A rose by any other name
by FallenAngelItachi
Summary: Follow along for another Saito x Tokio centric fic of the RuroKen fandom! Flowershop AU because I love it and I've never done one so I'm experimenting with my favourite ship. Hope you like it!
1. The delivery guy

**A/N** : Ehehehehe, here I am, back already! I hope you enjoy this completely out-of-nowhere AU, inspired by one reviewer who challenged me to something very particular. But no, they didn't have anything to do with the AU that was just me.

Hope you like it! I'm really eager to see what you'll say about it. Ah yes; let me make the disclaimer here once and only once: I do not own RuroKen or its characters. I'm merely inspired by canon. There, I said it.

Also, small first chapter but I believe is just what it's supposed to be: a good introduction.

 **EDIT** : For the anon who made a note of the title...The title is obviously a reference to William Shakespeare's famous quote. No need to disclaim that, I think it's fairly obvious while the other thing you mentioned, I can't even find it on google. Thank you for.

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The bell chimed as the door opened; without even looking up the words: "I'm sorry, we are not open for business yet; please come at a later hour," escaped involuntarily.

"That's ok; I'm the delivery guy."

There was silence.

"… _you_ 're the delivery guy?"

"Yeap; and I'm guessing _you_ 're the newest addition to staff; I heard them talking about a new hire lately. Though it is surprising they left you alone to open up shop on your first day."

Two people, a tall man and a relatively short woman, stood face to face. One was behind the glass-and-wood counter, the other stood casually in front of it. They had initiated a staring contest, but how ominous could anyone appear when wearing a green apron with a floral pattern, or black coveralls with a huge flower at the front?

Especially when they were standing smack in the middle of an army of pots and bouquets of flowers…either on the floor or on and in displays!

Shoulders shrugged then, giving new life to the conversation. "It looks like Yamamoto-san is quite the gambler, seeing he was the one who gave the directive. Either that, or he likes to see his employees suffer."

Laughter broke out, dissolving the buzzing awkwardness. "That was a surprisingly accurate first assessment of your boss! You're quite perceptive…?"

The speaker let the sentence hang in the air, indicating they were searching for a name; their interlocutor caught on quickly. "It's Saito; Saito Hajime." They bowed to one another. "And you are?"

"Takagi Tokio, hello! I'm the delivery guy, as you've already said so yourself, and I've been with this place for almost six years now! Pleased to meet you."

"I see; I was expecting you more…"

"Manly?" she offered in a knowing tone.

"No; _wholly_ male."

She laughed again. "It wasn't easy getting people to trust me driving around their plants, so I devised this plan. It took a couple of months but it gained traction and now I have a very lucrative flower delivering business."

She pointed to her truck with her thumb, the truck that could be seen only through the window at the back, as she had parked there.

"Ah…makes sense then, the deceit."

"No," she stretched out the word "don't call it that, it sounds so bad! I merely play with expectations and gender roles…speaking of which, I too expected a woman. Yet here you are, a fully grown man, making bouquets. It isn't all that common to find a man who doesn't own a flower shop working in one."

"True; but I always liked flowers."

She hummed, scratching her chin, seemingly deep in thought. "How old are you…? Twenty seven?"

"…twenty nine."

"What were you doing till now then? Unless you're from the countryside hence I haven't seen you in Kyoto before."

She promptly circled the counter and came over his side, proceeded by walking to the back with him following. Quite curious, wasn't she? And very direct; if he were anyone else, he would have considered her questions rude but seeing he could be just as blunt or worse, he didn't really mind.

"Indeed; I came from the outskirts of the Tochigi prefecture."

"Ah," she snapped her fingers "that's it then."

She gestured for him to open the back door. He reached into the pocket of his green apron and produced a set of keys; after finding the correct one with only a glance, he unlocked the back door. They went outside and walked to the truck in silence.

"Deliveries are always carried out at the back; less people and less of a mess." She explained at his curious glance. "So!" without further ado, she produced a sheet of paper. "Here's the delivery manifest; check all contents and once you see everything it says there is in the black crates, we get the flowers inside. Then you stamp the paper and I take it back."

"I see."

She opened the big door and the cold from the built-in fridge hit both at the same time.

He took it and skimmed it over, glancing at the crates all the while. "All accounted for," he simply said and after staffing it into his big apron pocket again, he reached to extract the first crates. He noticed she was meticulous and practical enough to use more crates but without flowers sticking out of them so they could be stacked, for easier transport. He appreciated it, because now he didn't have to make the trip six times.

He took four of them at one go, to the mortification of Tokio. "Don't take so many at once! Think of your back!"

"…they aren't that heavy."

He dismissed her concern as he opened the door with one hand, managing to balance them all on one hand and his chest and he watched her freak out – don't do that, they really are heavy! You'll drop them and make a mess; and ruin the flowers, too – amused.

When nothing fell and the world didn't come to an end, she shook her head in a clear show of indignation. But by the time she was finished with her emotional display, he was already out already, going for the next load. She managed to catch up to him though and took two of the remaining eight crates in her hands.

"Don't," he immediately forbade her from standing, motioning for her to put them down. He rolled up his sleeves then and took the crates out of her hands, seeing she didn't do as he asked, stacking them onto the two next to them, regardless of her protests. " _I'll_ take them."

She took two more anyway, making him huff in disapproval. "But you said it yourself, they aren't that heavy, right?"

"You and I don't have the same amount of strength," he simply stated and kept walking.

"Mmmm, brag all you want but I'll have you know I do this every day so in fact I can brag as much as you."

He said nothing. But he did manage to put his crates down first thus reached the truck first; when she realised what he was trying to do she took a sharp breath of air and ran after him! But he had already stacked the rest in one big pile and started carrying it inside.

"Saito-san!"

She said it like he had done some offence or another to her, hovering like an overbearing mother. She opened the door for him all the same though and waited after he deposited them on the floor – effortlessly to her annoyance – to slap his shoulder.

He looked at the whole motion like he couldn't believe that had just happened.

"That was dangerous!"

"That was nothing," he countered and she could see clearly he wasn't really bragging; he had shrugged his shoulders on-committal, he kept his voice even, his look never changed. Even before, he hadn't really bragged, he simply said something he considered a fact. If anything he had looked like he was insulted she insisted and in the end carried those two crates.

She considered. She didn't know if she loved or hated that, yet. "Anyway, just put the shop's stamp on the paper so I can go; I have ten more stops today."

"When are you coming here again?"

"Mmmmaybe the day after tomorrow; I don't come **every** day. Unless a patron asks for something big and you don't have it in stock or it bleeds your stock dry so Yamamoto-san makes a rushed order; the company alerts me and I go. I always deliver on time!"

She gave a bright smile; he nodded. "I see…could I make an order if I need to?"

"That's up to Yamamoto-san now isn't it? I wouldn't mind brining it so long you have his ok anyway!"

"Do you only deliver flowers?"

What an odd question, she mused. "Yes; unless if someone really needs a favour and it doesn't break any laws to help them."

"Alright; thanks for your time." He gave a small bow. "Till next time."

"Yes, till next time!"

She waved goodbye quite lively and closed the door behind her, a big smile on her lips. He watched her climb on the driver's seat as he locked the door, noticing how she kept looking back and smiling. What a strange person…

She got in her truck and gave the door a good, rough tug to close; she felt heat rise to her cheeks as she kept looking back at the flower shop through her rear-view mirror, trying to catch a glimpse of the new employee of "Sakura Kiss". She decided it was a good first impression. She liked this person; she'd make sure to say so, if they ever asked her opinion.

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 **A/N:** Saito is a florist. Can you imagine him in the green apron with the floral pattern and that scowl of his? Okay, he isn't scowly exactly but dude, I'd pay to see that fanart's all I'm saying.

Anyhow, I'd really like to know what you thought so please leave a review on your way out and tell me all about it.


	2. Smokes and flowers

**A/N** : Finally an update yass! I'm actually well now, and I've been writing so much but it's so close to Easter now and everything is crazy around the house and the people at work...so everyone is more demanding and I had far too little time to write this.

Thanks to all of you wonderful people for the well-wished and your concern. I love you guys. Anon, you're such a sweetheart.

This isn't beta'd by the way, so be warned, there will be some mistakes here and there, grammar mostly. So now. On with the chapter.

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Saitou was sweating; his throat was almost sore and he felt his feet complain by standing for so long in one position. They had him behind this damn counter for hours now, he needed a break!

A smoke break preferably.

But no rest for the wicked. "Your bouquet is ready sir; it's 5.300 yen." The moment the words left Saitou's lips, the middle aged man in front of him moved for his wallet. "Cash or card?"

"Card."

He produced the POS machine and punched in the numbers hastily; the man wiped the card over it, inserted his pin and waited. In a moment, the receipts started coming. On que, Saitou took the grand bouquet of roses and handed it over to the man. It was a gift for his wife…he definitely had cheated. Too many white and red roses. "Thank you for your patronage; please come again. Next one."

"I'd like a relatively big pot of something colourful that means longevity…what do you think I should get?"

"I'd suggest either plum or pear blossoms but if you'd like to think it thoroughly or explore more options Motoko – the girl hunched over there – " he gestured to a nineteen year-old putting some gardenias in order "could help you."

"Ah, no, I like your idea; I'll take the plum blossoms pot."

"Very well; that'll be 1.370 yen sir. Sakura, bring a plum blossoms' pot for the young man," who seemed to have the exact amount; good transaction.

A woman in her thirties, only a metre away from him but from the side of the customers was already wrapping the pot into nice ribbons and the like. "Thank you for your patronage sir; please come again. Next o-"

He never managed to finish because a movement caught his eye and turned his head towards the back. Immediately he felt his nerves snapping, frail as they were already. "What have I told you repeatedly? I'll carry these things inside!" he took a deep breath, forcing himself to relax. "Sakura can you take my place? Tokio came w—"

"Finally! Yes, go, go; hello madam, how may I help you?" she was asking even before replacing him and he untangled himself from the front of the shop to go to the back and help with the merchandise.

"Hello Saitou," she saluted brightly as he literally yanked the crates out of her hands.

"That smile doesn't work on me," he said testily "what have I told you? I'll carry the damn crates. How many are there?"

"Fifteen," she went on like he never chastised her.

So, two down thirteen to go. "Want me to leave the manifest with you?" She took it out of her coveralls and handed it to him "I'll come tomorrow morning again so you can give it back then."

"Nah, we're fast and I remember what's in these two crates;" he glared while counting all the flowers and pots in there and she knew it was meant for her even if he wasn't looking at her.

She smiled wider for some reason and he simply shook his head because they still had to go to her truck and account everything. He exited through the back and she followed suit. He opened the back of the truck himself and jumped in. he finished the check in less than a minute and immediately collected five crates; she moved to pick on up but he gave her a death glare.

"What?" She finally addressed his problem, confusion and mild indignation colouring her voice. "I do this all day you know."

"Exactly. You do this all day _every day_. Now put. It. **down**."

She chuckled sincerely amused raising her hands as if to prove her innocence, walking away from the crates. Satisfied, he nodded and started carrying them. Yet how could he make such a big deal out of her carrying one or two when he made it look so easy? Admittedly it wasn't, they were heavy; she struggled with the two of them, imagine with twice that and then some. But…he simply did it.

She watched him with fascination. He must have been very strong. She wondered what he looked like without a shirt on. Kind of an inappropriate thought for the workplace, she realised, but didn't seem to care. She simply walked with him and made a note of his every move, seeing none was wasted or extraneous. Yet, he didn't appear to be tired by his physical exercise. Hmmm, no one could be so strong "just because" like he'd said.

"Have you ever worked at a farm Saitou-san?" she asked when she noted once more how easily he put those crates down.

"…no."

"Huh; a stable?" she asked again as they exited the flower shop and went back to the truck

"No."

"…you a fitness nut?"

"No; why are you asking?"

"Because, well, look at you! You lift these things like they don't weigh a ton and-!"

"Oh now they weigh a ton; but when I tell you to put them down suddenly they are light."

She felt colour rising to her cheeks. "I feel like this line of conversation is not to my benefit so I'll stop now."

"You better."

Because really now, he was a florist, not an animal; what sort of man made a woman carry all those things on her own? And she even insisted on it, as if she wasn't obviously weaker than him. This woman was so stubborn, really. He gathered his wits along with five more crates and went through the same motions until all fifteen of them were safely inside and waited to be put in order.

He looked at his watch; 8:30. They wouldn't be closing for two hours at least. "Sakura, can I go take a break?"

She mimicked him, looking at the clock on the wall. "Sure; but please be back in ten."

He nodded he would.

"Come on," he gestured to Tokio to follow him outside and was already fishing inside his apron's huge pocket for, ah, the pack of smokes that felt so familiar and perfect against his thumb. He fiddled with the match box till they were out back, well hidden by the dumpsters but bathing in the light of the street lamp. Only then did he take both out, a cigarette between his lips before she could blink.

The first time, he had offered her one but Tokio, much like most people he knew, didn't smoke. "You said you'd be coming tomorrow again?" he asked as he lit the match.

There was something very seductive in the way he did such mundane tasks, but she couldn't figure out what. And the way he was leaning on the wall under the street lamp's light, his own personal spotlight, made him look like a character out of a noir film. And it suited him.

He raised an eyebrow. "Tokio?"

"Ah yes!" How embarrassing! She was caught staring…or was she? She had this blank expression on her face, maybe he thought she simply zoned out. "This wasn't even supposed to be the last stop—I've already finished my roll. But Yamamoto-san practically begged me to bring you these so…"

He had just finished taking the longest drag, satisfaction evident on his face; he exhaled the smoke in one big cloud. "There are fifteen crates; that's not last-minute amount."

"Irrelevant; tomorrow I'm bringing you your regular amount. It's just that these last two days you've had an unusual amount of customers and they bled you dry; bet you I'll come the day after tomorrow, too."

"Nah, they'll die down."

"I said what I said…"

He seemed to consider then and a small smirk graced his lips. "I'll take that bet."

That was unexpected. "Oh? What are we betting?"

"Coffee; you're coming first thing tomorrow right?"

"Yeah, regular time, regular amount."

"If you come two mornings at a row, coffee is on me for a month; if not, it's yours."

She smiled. "You're on." She watched him extract himself from the wall, as if her sentence signalled the end of his break; somehow she felt a little sad by that. "Going back already? It's barely been five minutes."

"I only wanted the break to smoke," he showed the remaining butt between his fingers before he flung it into the dumpster.

"I see. Well, don't forget, tomorrow I'll come an hour earlier…oh, and I drink my coffee with one sugar."

"I'm not surprised." He snorted. "I take mine black."

"Yeah, you're full of surprises yourself."

"Bye Tokio."

"Bye~!"

.

"I'll be damned…"

"Ah, ah, ah, first things first; where's my coffee Saitou?"

Tokio stretched out her hand; his remained firmly crossed. "…well I didn't know you'd be coming for the _fourth_ time in a row; but give me a second I'll order for the both of us."

"Aaaaaah, yes please, I _need_ the caffeine."

"Good morning, this is Sakura Kiss; I'd like two coffees. One black and the other with one sugar. Just a second; anything to eat?"

"No, I'm good."

"Okay those two and a doughnut." She tried not to laugh. "Thank you; I'll be waiting." He turned to her. "What's so funny about my breakfast?"

"You have a sweet tooth?" she asked through chuckles again.

"…so?"

"Nothing, it's just unexpected I guess. More than that apron even." She tried not to laugh. "Not that green and various shades of pink don't become you" she assured him "but I think blue would suit you better. Even with the various shades of pink."

"Said they'd be here in five; let's go check the manifest. How many crates today?"

"Twelve; mostly flowers."

By the time the coffees were delivered, they were finished with their morning routine. "Now business is done, can I ask for something?"

Her tone caught him off guard, causing him to turn to her almost instinctively. "What is it?"

"I'll go visit my mum at the hospital today; do you think you can arrange a nice bouquet for her? She likes orange and red very much but always enjoys purple, too."

"…is she serious?"

"Ah, no, she's just had an operation to remove her kidney stones; she's doing great."

"That's good; so a get-well-soon bouquet. When do you want it ready?"

"I'll be dropping by around four."

"I'll have it ready by then."

"Great; thanks! Oh, don't forget the discount, okay? Yamamoto-san said I have an ongoing 30% discount at everything!"

"That was generous of him…"

She giggled. "I drive a hard bargain." She took a sip of her coffee and saw it was time to go. Ah, time passed too fast this morning; she barely had time to register she already gave her order. "Make sure you make it look extra nice; she's surprisingly strict with flowers."

"As you wish."

She smiled; he was very busy and she was only making his life difficult. Time to make her exit. "Have a nice day!"

He nodded. "You, too."

It was only after she left that she realised when she spoke about her mother, he made no mention of his own. It was somewhat usual to talk about mothers if one mentioned them…but he made no effort. How…annoying. She actually wanted to know! He didn't sprout from the ground obviously, so she'd love to know about his parents. But much like everything about him, he kept that too a secret.

Damn it, it made her only the more interested.

.

"Oh, those flowers look very pretty; can you add those to the arrangement?"

His eyes followed hers to find the object of her desire; they were a small bouquet of pinkish purple Belvedere, very bold, very distinctive. He raised an eyebrow.

"No."

She widened her eyes. "What?"

"Said no," he repeated louder as he retrieved her impressive bouquet from the fridge.

"Why?" when he didn't speak, she pressed on. "They are literally right there, next to your hand."

"…these are the only ones in the store-"

"Yes, I know, I literally deliver them to you."

"And they are reserved for another customer."

"Oh." She pouted. "Sucks."

He shrugged. "That's life; and **this** is 4.370 yen."

She scoffed. "Imagine if I didn't have that discount…you're sort of expensive, aren't you-?"

But the bell at the door chimed, effectively stopping her; both people watched as a man in a very nice suit walked in, no older than forty. His hair were long, caught in a low ponytail, sunglasses on. And his hands, whatever was visible, were covered in tattoos…her reaction to the newcomer was very different than the man's though: where she was surprised and then suspicious, he seemed to be annoyed at first but then became completely expressionless.

How strange.

"Good evening sir. How may I help you?"

"I'd like those Belvedere or what's their name flowers you have over there; all of them. How much?"

"One costs around 200 yen but these ten pieces are the last ones so…I'd say 3000 yen for all."

Tokio turned to look at him with exasperation. Oh really? He was giving them to him? And not her? Despite not being the one who had reserved them? But he managed to stop her from staring with but a glance.

"Here;" the newcomer slapped down twice the amount of money Saitou asked; she only just noticed he was missing his pinkie "keep the change. Now hurry up. No, what are you doing? I don't want shit with them, just give them to me."

"As you wish." He simply wrapped some burlap around them and handed them over. "Thank you for your patronage. Please come-…again."

Just when the door closed behind the man, she turned to Saitou, hands crossed and look meaner than ever. "What was that?"

"…a customer?"

"Don't play dumb, you know exactly what I'm talking about! He didn't seem like the person who reserved the flowers…unless of course that was a lie. And you just didn't want to give them to me."

But she was troubled now. "You don't strike me as a person who would lie easily though…but when he came in, you acted a little strange. As if…you knew he would be coming for them." They exchanged a look. "Does he come for them often?"

"No; this was the first time this person ever bought from this establishment as far as I know."

"Then why…? Ah! I know why! You little…it was fir the money wasn't it? Because you could sell them for a higher price to someone other than me not only because I have the discount but because I literally know when you'll be getting the next shipping, isn't that it? Well, don't get too cosy with that guy; I'm betting you he's a yakuza. Saw the tattoos? And he had no pinkie! Besides, I'm pretty sure I have seen him shaking down a couple of folks; better stay away from him."

"…no, not at all."

"Then what is it? Because all I can think of is—oh my god…! I know what it is. And it ties in with your mysterious past."

"My what now?"

But he went ignored as she kept tying up her theory. "You used to be a thug when you were younger, mixed up with some family or another, didn't you? And this man reminded you of your old life in some way, so you gave him the flowers. Obviously something terrible must have happened and you left and came here, but old habits die hard, eh? Which also explains why you can pick up things two times your weight."

"…your imagination runs wild." He couldn't decide if he was amused or angry with her theories…for many reasons. "But if he was yakuza, better be grateful I didn't say yes; those type of people tend to get what they want and you don't strike me as the type of person who would back down easily. You'd make an enemy out of a yakuza, not too wise."

She clicked her tongue. "I'll make sure I throw in a dozen more Belvedere next time I deliver your flowers then. Just for me. Or him, if he shows up again."

She made a face; he rolled his eyes. "Just take your bouquet and go."

.

The bell chimed at the door and Saitou, hardwired to stop whatever he was doing and turn to the door by now, immediately stood up, hunched underneath the counter as he was. But he didn't have time to say anything because a familiar voice exclaimed in triumph:

"I told you he was yakuza!"

"…hello to you, too Tokio."

"Yes, yes, hello, how are you? I'm fine thanks" she dispensed with the formalities in two seconds tops "but I told you he was, I saw him; I was going home from the hospital that I'd stayed till very late yesterday-"

"I thought you said your mother had stones; it's been a week since then, why isn't she out?"

"The doctors found out a pre-existing condition the stones hid. It's a little bit more serious but, they said, manageable for now without surgery. But if in another week from now she hasn't improved, sadly they'll open her up again. And this once it might be dangerous."

"I'll make a nice bouquet for her again."

"Yes, please do that. Anyway!" she shook her head to let go of the sudden sullen mood. "So I was driving home and who do I see outside this bar threatening a poor fellow? Your Belvedere guy. He was wearing a different suit but had his sleeves rolled up and now all of his tattoos were visible and boy were they a lot! Also, he was shaking the guy and throwing him at walls. Generally, he was being a scumbag. See? I was right."

"…never said you weren't, about him. Where was that bar?"

"Oh…? You'd like maybe to go there yourself?"

"Why would-…I'm not and never have been a gangster. Okay? I'm only making conversation. And you should make sure you don't pass behind that place again or he might recognise you next time."

"There's no way; I didn't go with my truck. I have another car to, you know, get around."

"…just be careful around those people." She nodded non-committal. "Or don't listen to me; your funeral." She clicked her tongue. "So why are you here today Tokio?"

"Oh right! I came for another bouquet; I'll go visit her again today."

"But earlier than yesterday right?"

"Can't; work till very late you know. Normally they wouldn't even let me in but the nurses and the doctors know me so they allow me to stay as long as I can and until a patient wants to go to sleep."

He sighed. "When will you be picking it up?"

"Around six."

"I'll have it ready. And you, be careful. No following around known members of yakuza okay?"

"I didn't follow anyone!" she moved to go. "Oh; it was the Castaway bar. Despite obvious affiliations they say it's a nice place; maybe we could go sometime." He shrugged; she had already turned around, rolling her eyes as she went. "Bye Saitou."

She was only joking when she'd asked him but somehow, his casual shrug, felt like a full-blown rejection. Maybe she wasn't joking all that much after all; maybe she said that to herself only after the fact so it wouldn't sting as much. Well whatever; she had her rounds to make and it was still barely one pm.

Once she was safely inside the truck, Saitou got his cell phone out of his apron's bottomless pocket. "Hey, it's Saitou. Yes you idiot, the florist, how many Saitou do you know? I'm working right now and cell phones aren't allowed so I'll have to be quick before anyone comes back—never mind, I'll text you."

With the corner of his eye, he caught movement at the back; Sakura had just finished her break – a real break, not like the five or ten minute breaks he had – and entered the shop. He hung up and let it fall in his pocket. He busied himself with the bouquet Tokio had asked for. He remembered the colours she had asked him the first time so now he only had to pick some different flowers with the same colours and a different composition, to keep things interesting. She'd mentioned her mother was very pleased with his arrangement the first time so she liked his taste, thus he had confidence in his skills for the new bouquet.

"Hey Saitou; what are you doing?"

"I'm picking flowers for a bouquet."

"Oh? That's cute. For whom?"

"Tokio."

There was a stunned silence that followed but he didn't realise, he was too preoccupied in his self-appointed tasks of a) thinking up the new bouquet and b) managing to send the text without being caught. And he really wanted to make sure this one was more imposing than the previous, since now her mother's condition was worse. Maybe the flowers would cheer her up. So he missed the mischievous smile; and the giggle; but most of all, the "I see," she said in the end, all meaning and cheek.

.

"Hey S-…oh hi Sakura-san."

There were many customers in the shop that prevented her from seeing the person behind the counter. She was about to greet Saitou but instead she saw the always well-groomed woman serving, trying to control the chaos with you Motoko. Motoko was easier to spot thanks to her bright purple hair.

"If it isn't Tokio-chan! What are you doing here? It's only three o'clock. Yes sir, that's 3.250 yen. Thank you; next."

"Yes I know, I'm early, but I just saw something and I wanted to tell Saitou. Is he here?"

"Ah, no; he actually asked to take a long break. Motoko-chan bring me three roses and three gardenias please; and four marigolds!"

"He didn't have long breaks before?"

Sakura's cheeks reddened. "He should but he never really asked for more than a smoke-break so…"

Tokio looked affronted, already behind the counter with her to scold her – but not let others hear as Sakura made the composition the customer asked her–. "Sakura-san! That's horrible."

"I know and he deserves them, too, he works very hard."

Tokio scolded her with but a look. "You'll overwork him and he'll leave, be careful. D'you have his cell phone maybe? No wait, I can't call him there; it'd be inappropriate. Give me your landline and-"

"I'll give it to you Tokio-chan," Sakura begun devilishly "I have this feeling he wouldn't mind if it was you I gave him number to. Here is your bouquet dear; it'll be 2.560 yen."

"Really? Why?" Sakura had this expression like she knew something Tokio didn't. "Sakura-san what is it?"

"Just a feeling…next please!"

Her heart beat faster. "Did he say something?"

"Mmm maybe."

And now her heart stopped. "Sakura-san, please tell me!"

"Maybe I saw something today…" Tokio's expectant look made her giggle. "Maybe he has a chance? Should I tell him that?"

"No! No…just tell me if he'll be here around six."

"Yes, he will be here."

"Alright; thanks."

"I'll be here, too you know."

Tokio's cheeks, red already, now became even deeper. "S-so?" She was fooling no one; time to make her exit. "Bye for now Sakura-san, Motoko-chan…"

.

.

"Ah, if it isn't Tokio. How rare to see you in our establishment."

"Saitou-san," she said instead of a greeting "back from your break I see."

"And I presume you're here because you're having yours?"

"Not a break if you've finally finished; that's calling it a day."

"Hello Tokio-chan," Sakura saluted, hidden behind some acacias. Motoko waved as she passed in front of her, elbow deep in dirt. Saitou was surprisingly clean though, spotless behind the counter.

"What? You only carry stuff? You don't help with the dirty work?"

He shrugged, purposefully in clear view of both his co-workers. "Yamamoto-san believes I'm more effective than the girls in this post, so he keeps me here. Ah, which reminds me; stay put."

He was gone in the back, where the fridge was, where they kept the orders – aka bouquets that were already made and simply waited to be picked up –; that's when Sakura beamed at Tokio, nodding wildly, a conspirator's expression on her face. Tokio gestured "what" with her hand, mouthed it at the older woman. "You're about to see," Sakura mouthed back and nearly clapped out of excitement.

She first caught a glimpse of the extravagant wrapping paper and the loops of the ribbon around the flowers, rather than Saitou. "This is yours."

"Oooh, it's beautiful!"

"Yes, isn't it? So amazing; look at those colour combinations." Sakura commented, coming close all of the sudden, gushing along with Tokio.

A proud smugness took over him. "Did my best."

"Aw, thank you Saitou; I really appreciate it."

"Takagi-san deserves the best."

Even though he had never met her, it was obvious this person in front of him was raised with love and support; and she offered it right back when her parents needed it. So they all deserved to be happy by beautiful flowers.

Tokio laughed but Sakura became confused. "She sure does…"

But why was Saitou suddenly calling Tokio by her last name? And why wasn't Tokio acting more amazed by the gorgeous bouquet he offered her? Was she missing something?

"I'm sure she'll love it; mom was very impressed the previous time, I'm sure now she'll be gobsmacked. Thank you for the effort. How much?"

Wait…this was for Tokio's mom? As in, Tokio commissioned it…? Oh no! Sakura was mortified; she made a huge mistake and what's more, she involved Tokio in it, too and gave her false hope. Sakura started looking for her eyes, seeing the girl was now going even closer to Saitou, too close for professional conversation.

"Only 4 for you."

She snorted. "I'll give you that it must have cost a fortune; I take the better end of the bargain." She looked into all the pockets of her coveralls to find the bills. "Here, thanks."

She took a deep breath when he was too busy with opening the register to put the money in and cut the receipt; Sakura saw it and cursed herself. _Look my way, look my way, come on_ she kept mentally begging; then it happened and her anxiousness must have translated as "go for it" to Tokio because she gave a smile and turned around.

 _Oh no, I'm awful_.

"You know, third is the charm; if I have you make a third one how about you give it to her? I'm sure she'd love to see the person who keeps making such beautiful arrangements for her."

 _Ugh, no Tokio-chan_.

"No, thanks; I'm not good at show and tell."

"Just show…"

"Then that wouldn't be much of a meeting, would it?" _Fuck I'm so embarrassed_ , both women thought at the same time for the exact same reason from a different perspective. "Just go give your mom some pretty flowers; even if you didn't put them together yourself, she'll appreciate the gesture, don't worry. She'll love it anyway."

Why was it that he just didn't seem to comprehend she was trying to ask him out? She wasn't insecure about her mother—she just wanted to be with him in a situation outside of work. She smiled defeated, shaking her head in agreement. "You are right; how silly of me. I'm gonna go now. Bye everyone; thanks again for the flowers."

But she saved a very exasperated look for Sakura just before she left; Sakura looked back apologetic. Tokio sighed and left.

.

.

"I'd like some of these; how are they called?"

"Foxglove, sir."

"Do they come in more colours?"

"Yes, we have some red and pale pink ones at the back."

"Hmmmm, what about these? What are they called?"

"Dahlia, sir."

"Like the famous Black Dahlia case?"

"I suppose."

"But these aren't black."

"The woman had black hair; we have purple and magenta here."

"Hair?"

"Flowers, sir."

"Hmmmm and these?"

"Eglantines."

Tokio watched Saitou trying to serve one of the most air-headed, casual, and ignorant and infuriating people that ever walked that flower shop. He was about her height, short dirty brown hair that were too light for a Japanese person but they still looked to be his natural hair colour. He was lean and generally good-looking; if he was in any other setting that this one, acting like this, with a huge smirk on his face as if _enjoying_ making people's lives miserable, Tokio was sure Motoko would be swooning and Sakura would be elbowing Tokio repeatedly.

But even his good looks and his young age didn't do the trick; all amounted to zero in front of bad manners. so all three women simply stood by and watched the customer with distaste.

"And these?"

"These are glory flowers sir."

"Hm…I changed my mind. I'd like a bouquet of roses, lilies, some carnations…maybe some of these big and impressive ones."

"These are daisies in another colour than the usual white one, sir."

"Great; those! I think the bouquet will be better for a first date."

"As you wish."

"Or maybe a pot would be better? It would signify I want to take care of the-!"

"Hello, Saitou-san, excuse me sir, could you help me…?"

"Yes; sir, would you mind if one of the ladies helped you finish your order? I have to help with something out back."

And what usually was nothing but a formality, here, this customer, was making it a big deal. "But I started with you; you knew all my original preferences. I feel more comfortable with you." And the bastard was still giving his smug smirk, knowing he was making more problems than he was worth, but wouldn't give in. after all, what would they do? Kick him out?

"I see; then please wait Tokio. I'll be with you once the gentleman decides."

"…I'll wait." She looked at the man at first with hostility but then…she realised. If he was simply nervous for the first date, well, she could always help him out. She nudged Sakura to do her job, who refused to do anything of the sort so far out of pure indignation.

"You know sir, if this is a first date, a nice bouquet is always preferable." Tokio started and all but shoved Sakura into the conversation.

"Though it depends on the girl and the bouquet itself of course; you don't want it too big or else she'll think you're trying too hard. But a pot is underwhelming, yes? Unless she likes them, in which case, by all means." She finally spoke.

"Hm…I think she'd prefer the bouquet. But not a big one, you're right."

Finally they were getting somewhere! "Maybe then only daisies and lilies?"

"Or carnations and roses?" Tokio supplemented, seeing the denial ready on his mouth.

"Yes! Yellow carnations and white roses!"

Both women chuckled but it was Saitou who explained. "Yellow carnations are a no go, literally; choose red ones or white or the ones with mixed colours, those are very good, too. And roses…better not go with yellow either. Any other colour is fine."

"A nice red and white combo on both then?"

"Excellent choice; a modest bouquet of two and two of each kind, one for each colour. I'm wrapping it up."

Why was it that when it came to other people Saitou was so in tune with romance and grand gestures but when it came to him and understanding he was being hit on he was so thick? And look at that nice bouquet he made for this person; red ribbon, perfect loops, beautiful greenery to complete the set and almost heart-shaped wrapping paper. Goddamn it, maybe that's what she should do: order the perfect bouquet for a first date and then give it to him!

Nah, too forward; and he wouldn't like it. She could tell.

"That's 1.500 yen; cash or card?"

"Card please; here you are."

The transaction was completed in seconds. "Thank you for your patronage; please come again."

"If she likes it I will. Bye bye," the short man said on his way out.

"What an odd fellow." Sakura commented, hands on hips. "I don't know what to make of him. He was very fast and polite with us but Saitou he gave such a hard time!"

"Don't care about people like him. Come on Tokio, I'll take the crates from the truck." Oh right, she was here for a reason. "How many?"

"Ten and they are all roses; your boss is stocking up on them."

"We were running low, truth be told."

It gave her an odd sense of familiarity, his easiness, how naturally he opened the door to her truck and hastily counted the contents and then compared them to the manifest he was requesting with his flat palm looking up.

And when he was done, he put it in his apron, taking out his pack of smokes. "I'm taking a quick break once we're done." He explained.

"You really like smoking…" He shrugged. "It's gonna kill you, you know."

"Many things might kill me; if it is the one thing I chose for pleasure, so be it." He put a cigarette behind his ear as he collected five crates, stacked them and began his come-and-go.

"Next time wear a tighter shirt, will you?" she snapped as she held the door open for him, angling her head in all sorts of ways but coming up empty.

"I believe comments like that can be called sexual harassment."

Her smile was coy. "I only meant if you wear them tighter you won't be in danger of ripping anything; your clothes are always getting caught on the wood."

He gave her a look; her smile turned innocent. "…" He shook his head.

"Take our friendly neighbourhood yakuza for instance; he's always dressed to impress."

"Tokio, we've already talked about this; don't follow around yakuza members."

"I don't" he gave her that look again, which meant he didn't believe her. "I don't; he was at the hospital! He must have someone at the same wing as my mum because I ran into him twice in one day." He urged her to go on wordlessly, now in the process of picking up the other five crates. "Once at the cafeteria grabbing a coffee and once at the corridor. He…"

She stopped; he raised an eyebrow as he lowered the crates. "Um, never mind." She looked outside: sun had already set, it was dark and inside it was bustling with every day sounds and people's voices. She recognised an exit when she saw one and this was hers. "I'm gonna go now, have a nice br-!"

He grabbed her wrist. "I'm taking five," he spoke in a higher volume for Sakura's sake; to his credit, he only walked out with her when he heard the ok from the older woman. He let go of her hand only when he had settled against the wall, searching for his matches. He moved the cigarette from behind his ear to his mouth and said "Go on now," in that kind of sexy muffled way he did and…

…she couldn't; she'd been too preoccupied feeling _so much heat_ rising to her face the moment he caught her hand—had he just, how can he, and he was casual, what was up? She was nearly hyperventilating! He was so forward but he didn't even realise, he was simply looking at her like an idiot for not speaking already. And the whole cigarette in the mouth, looking at her angled from the wall—all of it was too much for her heart.

"It's nothing, really."

"Speak. Now."

She averted her eyes. "I was just going to say…I don't think he realised where he saw me because he only recognised me the second time I ran into him; called me the coffee girl…so" she drawled on the word "it's safe to assume he doesn't remember me from here."

He exhaled smoke, cigarette between his fingers. "No but that means if he sees you here again he **will** remember you." He looked at her for a long moment, returning the smoke in its rightful place. "Good job, stalker; now a yakuza remembers your face."

"I wasn't staking him—I'm not that curious! I was visiting my mum who is still at the hospital. What was I supposed to do? Turn around and hide? I didn't even see him both times, I literally ran into him, spilled coffee on him in fact."

"Ah; that's why he remembered you. You ruined his shirt."

"Yes."

He scoffed. "Congratulations again; you definitely know how to pick them."

"What do you mean pick them? I just run into him a lot."

"Well if you run into him again and he tries to strike up conversation, shut him down. It won't end well for you."

"I know that without you telling me, thank you very much."

.

.

"So I might not have listened to you…"

Saitou put down his shears very slowly and carefully; he stopped trimming one the bushes that made their front look pretty and turned to look at her very pointedly. He stared and he didn't even have to ask "what did you do now?" in his exasperated voice—she could see it in his eyes.

"The yakuza guy—he stroke up conversation with me all on his own yesterday."

He put his forehead in his hand. "Not even a week since I warned you—not even four days!"

"Well, Toyohisa, that's his name by the way, Toyohisa came to me with coffee and he said it was just how I liked it so I had to take a sip and verify—and he was right. Anyway, he came and asked me a whole bunch of things: why I was there, who I was visiting…I tried not to engage him but he was very friendly, I couldn't help it! So, long story short, instead of me telling him things he ended up telling me something important and I think I need to go to the police with these information because they'll definitely be useful but I don't know if I should do it."

He gave a long, deep sigh. He wasn't disappointed in her, no; he was at a loss. She did the exact opposite of what he told her and now she even says she has information about the police…!

"Look Tokio, being a police informant is the last thing you need right now. If you feel comfortable enough with the idea I guess you could do it, but if word gets out by some crooked cop, you're done; you'll need to relocate, you'll keep looking over your shoulder, it'll be a nightmare. Think on your next move very carefully; I'm not telling you not to do it but if you do it, there probably won't be turning back."

"…that's one very grounded in reality answer you have for me buddy." He shrugged; that's when he decided that going back to his previous task was useful. "In fact, it's too grounded, and very articulate for such a delicate and unexpected matter. How were you so ready with that suggestion?"

Fuck; fuck, he said it without thinking. And fuck it, she noticed. "Can it be…" she leaned in closer and whispered in his ear "you are actually a police informant on the run yourself?"

He rolled his eyes. "So this is what's next on what-can-Saitou's-totally-mysterious-past-be this week? Even if I told you I was doing the exact same thing as now only in a different prefecture…"

"You can't fool me," she snapped "no one gets that strong for no reason; and Sakura-san told me you had to learn the job, even if you learnt very fast, you still had to."

 _Sakura-san talks too much_ and "she needs to get her facts straight; I only needed to learn the ropes of this particular shop."

"Aha." She didn't seem convinced.

"So what did you find out about the yakuza guy anyway?"

"Oh right! Well-…should I be telling you? What if you get involved, too?"

"Speak Tokio."

"…okay. But don't say I didn't warn you!" he gave her his look and she couldn't help her feet becoming jelly. "I found out he was visiting a person he kept calling big brother…and then he even distinguished between small big brother and big big brother and this one in the hospital he says is the _big_ big brother."

Saitou stared flabbergasted. "And he just told you that?"

"Yeah; well that and many more but that was the important thing I thought I should tell the police about."

"I get this is important but why would he divulge such a big secret like that to _you_?"

She chuckled; wait, he didn't get it? Oh really now? Her eyes grew in size in an effort to make him see the obvious…but he didn't. Her smiled fell and she shook her head. "He told me because he was flaunting Saitou; he was showing off to me."

"Yes, but why?"

She pursed her lips. "Because as unbelievable as it may sound, he liked me. He was flirting with me."

"I get that; you're an attractive person." Wait what? So was he or wasn't he a complete idiot when it came to these things? "Why would a person like him flaunt so easily troubles me; he must know you can't just talk about these things to an outsider no matter how good-looking he thinks you are."

She blushed and then some more. "Uh-I don't know…ask him why."

"Sorry, I'm thinking out loud."

"That's okay; you're curious, too. I get it."

"Yeah," _curious, sure_. "Just try not to talk to him again; avoid him. Definitely don't encourage him."

"…I'll try, I swear."

"Just try and stay safe, Tokio." She nodded. "Why are you here anyway? It's too late for a normal delivery and far too early for a last-minute one. What happened?"

"…nothing, I just…I was just passing by, I'm on a break…and I thought maybe you were having yours, too…"

"I'm having my mine in five minutes; if you wanna wait be my guest." That seemed to brighten her day; he mustn't have realised why because his look of surprise was unparalleled. "I feel like eating soba. You in?"

"Sure," she chuckled out as an answer at his peculiar request. "I know a nice corner where you can smoke, too."

* * *

 **A/N** : Hope you liked lovelies! Review a line or two to tell me your opinions.

Kisses,  
FAI.


	3. Fire is cleansing

**A/N** : Now see? I'm a good girl, I update fast...and I _don't_ leave this story at a cliffhanger. At least not too much.  
There was no time to proofread this so sorry for any mistakes you may find, completely unitentional!

Enjoy the newest chapter lovelies and have a Happy Easter, those who celebrate it. Love you~~

* * *

The bar was overcrowded; people were grinding on people not because they danced or tried to seduce someone, simply because they needed drinks! And they were so close to one another there was practically no other way to get one. Of course Saitou was smart and came early; he'd been occupying the best seat in the bar for well over two hours now. Of course that only meant he drank a lot but he had to make due; he'd be here for a long time anyway.

Unless someone decided to leave early, but he didn't see that happening any time soon.

And then he ran into someone he did not expect.

"Oh my G…Tokio what are you doing here? Don't tell me you're the yakuza's date…."

"What? No! Why would I come here with him? I said he's hitting on me, not that we're flirting. Wait does that mean he's here? And you know that?" Her eyes became smaller, but her smile wider. "Are _you_ stalking Toyohisa, Saitou?"

"No, idiot; I came to have a drink with a friend and I saw him walking the place with a drink in his hand. And now I saw you and I assumed."

She rolled her eyes. "No, I'm here with a friend for a drink, too."

She cocked her head to her right where a pretty woman with long blond hair sat, obviously dyed, but they suited her well. She, much like Tokio, was wearing form-fitting, flattering clothes. In contrast with the coveralls he saw every day, this made quite the show. She looked very beautiful. And he only just noticed how long her hair were – almost to her elbow – because this must have been the first time he ever saw them down and not in some ponytail or a bun.

It was nice. But he didn't have time to look at her right now. "I see. But you sh-"

Was he rushing her? Nah, it must have been her imagination. "Where's your friend? I don't see him."

"He's right over there" he showed a stool by the bar, next to the bartender at the moment "he's drinking his problems away."

She made an effort to see through the bodies that squeezed one another but when she finally lay eyes on him, they widened significantly. "That's the impossible guy! From, from the flower shop with the bouquet…"

"Seeing he's my friend, I know."

Maybe he was rushing her; his sentences were clipped. Suspicious. "Oh so that's why he was giving you a hard time!"

"That and he's pretty much a dick."

She snorted with laughter. "If he's so impossible in general why are your friends with him?"

"Who said I was any better?"

"Fair enough; how did his date go?"

"Horrendously; if it hadn't, he wouldn't be sitting with me tonight." She laughed. "Okay look; thanks for your interest and all but listen to me: you have to go."

"What?"

That came completely out of nowhere! She was so cell-shocked she practically gawked. "I was getting more of a come-sit-with-us not a leave-this-place-right-now vibe; what the hell Saitou?"

"I can't explain right now, at least not properly; but you and your friend have to leave." She stared incredulous. "Now."

"Why? And you don't?"

"It'd defeat the whole purpose if I left…"

"What purpose?"

"Don't make so many questions; just go, it's for the best…for both of you. You can find a million other places to have a drink tonight that isn't this bar; go find it. Just go."

"Saitou what the hell? We have just gotten our drinks and-"

"I'll pay your tab; just leave."

He was unmoving in his position; she simply kept looking up, disbelieving of this whole situation. "Really?" He nodded, absolute. "Uh, good god, just…okay. Alright, we'll leave." She scoffed. "Not much mood to go on now anyway." She glared at him. "Bye. Have fun."

She didn't said it like a wish though, more like swearing at him. But he didn't care; he only cared he saw her go to her friend in a straight line and then tell her to go. From the body language alone, he could tell her friend was just as shocked as Tokio, but she didn't question her, she simply did as she asked. Then he watched her backtracking and almost became incensed with her but when she stopped right in front of him, put her hand in her purse and then slapped his chest quite literally with some bills, he realised she only came back to give money for her drinks.

For some unfathomable reason that actually angered him even worse than her refusing to leave. "Said I'd take care of it."

The look she fixed him with was chilling, though. "Goodnight Saitou."

And then she was gone behind throngs of people, but he managed to catch a glimpse of her as she exited the bar. At least she did as he asked—one part of it.

"Who was that? She seemed pretty upset…"

"That's the delivery guy, you idiot; you've met her before."

"I think I'd remember a pretty woman like that."

Saitou rolled his eyes. "She was the one who urged you to get the roses and the carnations."

"Oh my god, you're right!"

"I know Okita, I'm always right. We've already established that."

"Oh, you are? Then why was she so upset?"

He looked at his friend guiltily. "I didn't tell her why, but I told her to leave."

"Wh-Saitou! You shouldn't have done that! Now there's a loose end-"

The "I know" was silent, communicated with but one look. "I couldn't just…we work together, her mother is at the hospital…I couldn't."

Interest showed up in his friend's face. "You're going…dare I say, soft Saitou?" when the man rolled his eyes and sighed, Okita was having none of it. "No, no; don't. You've either gone soft or you obviously have a soft spot for her; which one is it?"

"Neither; now shut up and let's do what we came here for."

"You won't be getting out of this conversation bud," Okita "warned" all smiles and nudges "once this is through, you're spilling it."

"There's nothing to spill; just look around you."

Okita shrugged. "I am; like I said, we'll continue this conversation at another time…"

.

.

Tokio drove home so angry, she nearly caused an accident twice! Alright, the excess alcohol had everything to do with it, too but it was the anger that led her to consume much more alcohol than usual. There she was sitting with her friend, having a drink and lo and behold, she sees Saitou—the very person she was just talking about. And just as she had finished saying how social he can be to her friend Yayoi, she goes to ask him to join them and that happens.

She was so hurt; she didn't do anything wrong. She didn't do anything to him, either. Why was he being like this? She didn't do anything, did she? Could she have done something without realising? Sure she made some comments but they weren't mean spirited, and he never seemed to mind; if anything they bantered back and forth. Why was he acting like this all of the sudden? She simply wanted to spend some time with him that's all! She just liked him.

There it is, she admitted it; she liked him. Okay, she did, so what? It wasn't a crime! She was a single, successful business woman; the only part of her life that hadn't blossomed was that so what's wrong with trying to attend to that? If he didn't want her around he could have just said so…! Well, earlier; he did say now. In a most hurtful manner. Huh! And he had the gull to tell her to let the yakuza guy down easy, please! When he was so heartless.

Thank god she didn't have their store on the roll tomorrow or else she didn't know what she'd do after such a humiliating night. And Sakura had the nerve to say he liked her…where did she even see it? If she weren't driving, she would be balling her eyes out, just like Yayoi did when they went to the other bar down the road and drank to forget her now ex. Ah…men. The only thing Tokio wanted now was her fluffy bed and to forget the rest of the world.

She parked her car, ascended the stair to her apartment and took out her keys. "I'm home," she said to her cat that was already sleeping. She kicked her shoes off and came into the living room, plopping on the couch. But her adrenaline was too much and she couldn't even close her eyes; that's it! She decided to turn on the television; maybe the din would eventually lull her to sleep.

But when she turned it on to a random channel, something caught her eye. A news flash? What time was it? Three in the morning!? Why was there a news flash? She sat up on her couch and zoomed in the news; it said:

A fire broke out at the very popular bar Seven, not ten minutes ago. The firefighters on scene struggle with the flames and evacuating everyone, as police officers do their best to put order to people and contact the next of kin for anyone coming out of the bar.

Her skin crawled; her chin fell. That's where she was not three hours ago. She looked at the live footage outside the bar and she could have fainted. There Saitou was, somewhere at the background unnoticed by the crews, carrying a man on his back and a woman in his arms outside; his short friend right next to him and another woman on his back, too. Then he handed them over to the police and went back inside, his friend always following.

And that's when she actually fainted.

.

She snapped out of it! What the hell—the club they were was burning! She turned to the tv…but it was closed. She looked out of her window; light; it was day already. Oh no, what's the time? She looked at her wrist watch in a panic; it read 7. Okay, deep breaths; she still had time to wake up properly and eat her breakfast, have a bath. And what? She was forgetting something, what did she need to do? Oh god, she needed to call her friend!

She dived for her cell phone, which she knew she had left next to her and immediately dialled her number. She waited. A sleepy "hello?" was heard and she knew she must have woken her.

Never mind. "Yayoi, did you watch the news? Seven burnt down!"

"…oh my god that's crazy." She yawned. "We could have been in there."

"Yeah, I can hear you're very broken up about it."

"Oh shut up, I'm still sleeping. We'll talk in a couple of hours, okay?"

"Alright; stay hydrated, you drank too much last night."

"Like you didn't; bye Tokio."

But she was still left unsatisfied. She was still forgetting something…Saitou! Of course, that's whom she was forgetting! She watched him come out unhurt but then he jumped back into the fire. How was he? Ah, damn she didn't have his digits. She'd told Sakura not to give it after all. She could only call the shop now, but she doubted he'd open the place if he was at that bar yesterday night.

And somehow, her ego didn't allow her to call there later and check it out. After all, her pride suffered greatly because of him…even as it turned out he wasn't turning her down by sending her away. It was something way more dangerous and, well, she hated to call it as such but mysterious. She needed to get to the bottom of this. Oh right; news.

She turned on the TV; those guys must know something more about it than her—maybe they even got more information. And she was quite right! The woman sitting in front of the channel's logo sad something very important:

The famous Seven bar was burnt down last night in the middle of what the police called a gang war; it was seen as retaliation for another establishment that was destroyed last week by vandalisms by a rivalling family.

Her blood turned cold; Toyohisa was there because he liked it, she could guess that much. She was a good judge of character and figured if it would be in a person's taste, it wold be in Toyohisa's…and not Saitou's. If anything, it seemed so out of character, she was nearly shocked she found him there. What if…Saitou was responsible for the fire? What if he was a dangerous man? What if he knew so much about police informants because he helped catch a few of them for the family he's working for? Could he be a yakuza, too?

All these questions needed answers. But she wouldn't get them until tomorrow, she promised herself. She'd show restraint.

.

.

"Tokio."

He tried to act like nothing had happened. She could see her name was spoken tentatively though, he was allowing her to set the pace of their conversation. "Saitou." She matched his greeting with her knowing look and a tone that forebode of troubles, at least for him. She was telling him she hadn't let go of what had happened two days ago.

"Can we talk?"

"Can we do the talking while working?"

"No," she stated absolute, crossing her arms "I wanna look into your eyes while we're having this conversation."

That's when he knew he was fucked. Still, he put up a brave front and rose an eyebrow as if he didn't know where she was going with this.

"Now, Saitou, I would like to lead with a question and please answer truthfully, it's the most important one I'll be posing, ever: are you a member of a rivalling family to Toyohisa's?"

He looked at her like she had just said the last thing he ever waited to be asked; his sheer "what the hell"-ness was enough to make her heave a sigh of relief. He seemed honest in his reaction, too.

"Tokio, I'm not a criminal; I told you that."

"That leads us to my next question:" she looked around, making sure no one at all was watching them "how the _**hell**_ did you know there'd be a fire at the bar then? If you weren't the one who put it and you don't know the ones who started it, then how the hell-?"

"I can't answer you that without opening an entirely different can of worms so I'd rather you didn't ask me that yet."

"Oh I'm sorry, when would that be convenient to you? After someone gets killed?"

"Hey," he started absolute "not a single person was killed during the fire and there were about four hundred people in there. Granted, some have burns, and a couple were nearly trampled, but none died."

"By the way, I saw you getting people out on the news!" He looked shocked; now that was something that was news to him. "You were carrying a woman and a man to safety; then you went back inside? Are you insane!? But you look surprisingly unscathed! How can that be? It was a burning building and you went back inside and still came out fine. How? This; this is why I'm suspicious of your past—wouldn't anyone be under the same circumstances?"

"…you are smart; and know cause and causation well; but your imagination runs wild. If…" No that wasn't the right way to go about it. "Give me a week; act like nothing happened. After the week is over, you'll have your answers, I promise that much. But until then, let's pretend that night never happened. Or at least you never met me there? Deal?"

"And you'll explain it to me properly?"

"Yes."

"…fine; I give up. I'll talk to you after a week. So for now: we have thirteen crates. Let's go do business."

That went so much better than he planned! He nodded vigorously, and headed outside. "Sakura is supposed to come any moment by the way; she's just late."

"Oh; just so you know, she knows I was at the bar two nights ago. She doesn't know I ran into you because we talked before I went there, but she knows I did, so don't be alarmed if she asks me about it, okay?"

"Thanks for the warning. Oh, there she is now."

The moment Sakura lay eyes on Tokio she went into a sprint and crashed on top of her! "Tokio-chan! I was so worried! You barely answered any of my calls. Are you okay? Is your friend okay? Where you there when the fire started? What happened?"

"Actually no! We left way earlier."

Sakura hugged her again, tighter. "So lucky thank god!"

"We have her ex to thank for that; ran into him at the bar and she didn't want to stay a single second longer—dragging me out the door in seconds! In the end, we should be thanking him; he got us out of there before we were in any real danger."

"Heh; who would have thought exes are good for something; did he get out in time, too?"

"Oh yes; but don't ask me why, I've no clue."

"Who cares? You're the important people here! Ah, I'm so glad; you are safe. Did you know she was supposed to go there Saitou-san?"

He was carrying five damn crates and that's what she did? Ask him about her? Tokio almost rolled her eyes; and yet, Saitou showed no signs of annoyance – why would he, he lifts those things like they are nothing –; in fact, he managed the surprised look and said perfectly natural: "No, I had no idea; good to see you're safe."

Look how good he was at lying! That's—that's extraordinary. He'd better not be pulling the wool over her eyes about him not being a criminal, too—she'll be very pissed. And if only did Sakura found out he was actually there, too and even went back into the flames for someone else…that was very brave, come think of it.

"Well, I'm going back inside; Saitou will finish out here with you. I'm just so glad to see you alright."

With that, she bypassed Saitou who had just come out again and went inside. They both watched her go, making sure she was inside before talking again. "By the way, I uh…meant to say this." She had his undivided attention. "No matter why and how, I, well you, you warned me about this one way or the other and told me to go. Thanks to you I was never in any danger so thank you. For…for keeping me safe."

She did it while she still had the courage; she climbed on her tip toes and planted a fleeting kiss on his cheek. He turned to watch her scamper inside the shop to talk to Sakura some; he watched her go something between scared and frozen. He was very certain she was mad at him. But she wasn't really? Or did she put it aside till he told her the truth? He really didn't know, he couldn't tell. He shrugged to himself because he had no idea; maybe Okita would know, he was the one with the experience in women.

He'd ask him later.

.

.

The door burst open, causing everyone in the shop to look up! "I came for a rushed delivery your boss just called me come out back!"

A collective sigh of relief was heard both from the four customers and the two employees. "Take a breath first, damn. I'm coming, here, have some water or something." Saitou told her, seeing her nearly frantic state.

"Sorry but this already put me behind schedule and if I don't hurry it the hell up I won't be able to go pick me mum up from the hospital; she's leaving tonight and dad can't drive because of his eye."

He said nothing else; he simply turned about and headed out the back, her walking between the customers and following him outside. "How is your mum? And what's up with your dad's eye?"

"Mum's great; doctor said she's been responding to the treatment like a twenty-year old and she's good to go. Dad's as blind as a bat from his right eye; didn't even tell us till he got into an accident a week ago. Can't drive anywhere now. Besides, he's in the same room as mum which is hilarious because now they can bicker at a hospital, too."

"How many crates?"

"Seven; I was really rushing it. Here's the manifest. Check it out and I'm gone."

He did it fast; he nodded and took all seven crates out at once. "Done; go. Say hi to your mum for me."

"Only if you make me a nice bouquet; I'll come take back the crates around ten, just before you close for the day. Have it ready for me, will you?"

He nodded. "Will do."

"Bye Saitou, thanks." She was about to get in when she stopped. "Oi! Not all seven at once good god!"

"Bye Tokio…!"

She shut the door, rolling her eyes. She was ready to go. But how odd, she thought behind the wheel. He told her to act like nothing had happened and she was so ready to fall back into the same old habits; it was disconcerting. She really must have liked him after all. Anyone else she'd have punched in the face even for thinking they might have been involved with something like this. She sighed. She was such an idiot; she was definitely falling for him.

And he was oblivious. Marvellous.

.

"I'm here for my crates and my bouquet!"

"Tokio, I need you to do something without asking me questions about it now; your yakuza is coming here at any moment now. You're the last person I want him to see in here. Go hide at the back and stay there till he leaves. I know your mother needs to leave and you have to pick her up but three minutes won't make too much of a difference. Just do as I ask you, okay?"

"…okay. And he's not my yakuza, I resent that! I don't even like the guy."

He gave her a look. "Why are you still here?"

"Okay, okay, I'm going." She looked over her shoulder and saw a car parking right in front of the shop, even if it wasn't allowed. She squealed at the way Saitou shooed her away and ran at the back.

"Welcome sir; we'll be closing shortly."

"I know; I want ten Belvedere flowers, like the ones you gave me the other day."

"Ah yes; I have more than just ten if you need them."

"…give me fifteen."

"As you wish; no wrapping paper yes?"

"Yeah, get on with it." He slapped bills down on the counter that Saitou had the courtesy not to count until the man left because he knew there was no way he'd stiff the bill; yakuza weren't like that, especially with businesses they truly treated as business – and wanted no further affiliation with –.

The moment Saitou handed the flowers over, Toyohisa, more agitated than ever, grabbed them and disappeared into his car and the night in record time. Only then did Saitou exhale. "You can come out now."

She did, along with the bouquet he had prepared for her. "I see you helped yourself." He commented amused. "Wanna pay all by yourself, too? Maybe I should tell Yamamoto-san to make it self-service."

"Oh shut up; I might as well, if I were back there doing nothing." She let a moment pass. "Why did I have to be hidden?"

"…he's smart; if he saw you here and there's even 1% chance he'd seen you at the bar, too things might have been difficult for me. But now I eliminated your presence as a variable so the outcome was favourable."

"What was the outcome?"

"He bought the flowers."

"And what was the gain from that, other than the money?"

The smirk that appeared on his lips was too pointed, nearly feral. "…if he uses them tonight, you'll know by tomorrow; along with why I knew there would be a fire." Yes, he was mentioning the topic that's-not-to-be-discussed, what was she gonna do about it? "So be patient; it's only one night. By the way," now his expression changed from a predatory grin to casual concern "this is my phone number."

He handed her a card that was hidden in his huge pocket; it was Sakura Kiss's card but on it, in his neat scroll, there were numbers. "Call me if it's an emergency. I feel you might need it."

Her stomach did a flip and three somersaults; he was giving her his number. On his own. She didn't even have to ask him!

"Define emergency; like the fire at the bar emergency or yakuza won't leave me alone emergency?"

"…both sound serious, so both of these are considered emergencies. But calling me to talk to me about your day isn't an emergency."

"I know the definition of emergency Saitou…! Alright; if anything happens, I'll call you. How much for the flowers?"

"Three and we're fine."

"…don't discount on my discount; I can tell you used very good materials and-!"

"Three, take it or leave it."

"F…ine, three;" she slapped three one thousand bills on the counter "but I owe you coffee." He shrugged. "No seriously; I owe you coffee. Now come load the empty crates coz I gotta run."

.

.

Tokio had a weird feeling on her way to work today; she didn't know why, maybe it had to do with the fact they parted in such a hurry yesterday night. Or maybe it had to do with her mother, spewing her old-timer warnings about the yakuza, men and flowers and how they never mix well together – "take it from me honey, I lived through the seventies" – ; o\no matter what it was, it put her on edge.

"Good morning Saitou!"

The moment she saw him hunched over the pots, all bad feelings dispelled in an instant; she didn't know what she was dreading but apparently that wasn't it, so she put it aside.

"Good morning Tokio." Her smile was contagious and it affected him, too; his sour mood lifted, she could see the transition, the moment the words left her lips.

"It's the regular amount of twelve today; come out back."

"Coming." He used his hands to support himself on his thighs and pushed off the ground. Dusting off his hands, he took the manifest she was offering; he skimmed it over. "Too many carnations; what happened?"

"He apparently needs them. Don't ask me; maybe a big order for decoration at a party or something."

He shrugged; they went to her truck, he opened the back and started counting. "All here; go open the door for me."

"Wh-Saitou! Not only two trips! Put a couple down, oh my god."

But he didn't listen to her. "Go open the door for me; want me to drop them?" he shamelessly 'threatened', causing her to groan in frustration. She ran to get the door and simply stood there as he passed her, left the crates down, and then went out again.

"You forgot the door at the storefront ajar;" she raised her voice to be heard; yet somehow, at that observation the bad feeling from before returned. She tried to ignore it. "I'mma run and close it for you, or someone might think you're open. _There are always those kinds of people_."

She took an empty box and after opening this door as far as it could go, she put it there to make his life easier; then she practically ran all the way to the entrance for the customers and…froze. Just as she was about to grab the knob, the door opened fully and none other than a furious, vengeful Toyohisa walked in. he was about to trample pots and stomp on flowers till he found his man, but the moment their eyes met there was silence; for one brief second the world came to a stop. Her bad feeling was magnified as he somehow zeroed in on her; life's meaning itself was revealed to him in that brief moment.

The next there was a scream.

Saitou snapped at attention at the sound; he immediately left the crates on the floor as quietly as possible and took out his phone and dialled Okita's number. He knew he'd answer and hear the commotion so the necessary steps would be taken towards that direction; now he had to rush inside and help Tokio.

"Sir, think of what you're doing; put those down."

Tokio had somehow scrambled to the other side of the store, nearly run into Saitou's chest when he turned the corner, while Toyohisa went the opposite direction and looked for the first sharp thing he found: the shears. He was brandishing them like a knife, ready to lunge at her, hiding behind a stand with pots.

"This bitch!" Toyohisa shouted, jabbing the shears at nothing but towards her general direction. "She did everything!"

"I did nothing!"

"You're fucking lying, you fucking bitch!"

"I only deliver flowers!"

"Sir," Saitou expertly diverted his attention from the woman to him, stepping one step closer as he spoke, trying to shield Tokio by gently pulling her behind him "please put those down first and then we can talk."

"I was coming here for you at first, so don't talk back too much bastard! Those flowers you gave me were marked. They were traced back to me and big brother! But if she was the one delivering them then I'm starting to think she is the brain behind it all."

"I doubt anyone in this room marked was it what you said? Marked flowers. This woman doesn't grow the flowers anyway, she simply delivers them. Maybe someone else did what you're accusing her of."

"They come to me sorted! I simply put them in crates, please!"

Now she was fully behind Saitou, who kept his hands raised in a pacifying manner, trying to reason with the crazed man. "There; maybe the one responsible is the person sorting them before her."

Toyohisa seemed to be considering…but then he became even more angered! "Don't try to confuse me! She was the one I kept seeing everywhere I went; she threw coffee on me; she knew about big brother;"

"Only because _you_ told me!" she tried to defend herself.

"Because you tricked me into telling you! Hell, you were there at Seven and left way before the fire started; this is _all_ your fault you bitch!"

"Sir please put those down or I'll have to do something about it."

He snorted derisively. "What are you gonna do? Water me to death? Step aside flower guy or I won't hesitate to go through you first to get to _her_."

That's it, he threatened her; play time was over. "Put those down now."

Toyohisa chuckled. "No dude; step aside. Step aside or I'm gonna cut you, too and you'll die for this bitch." He hunched over now, ready to strike at any moment.

"No, I won't. Put those down."

He pretended he was going to strike, but stayed his hand; Saitou didn't even flinch. "Awfully calm you are for what's about to happen to you, bastard. Aren't you scared?"

Saitou simply shrugged. "Then prepare yourself!"

He pulled another feint, but Saitou could see his intentions, read his movements. He knew when he was about to strike or, in his case, not; but whether he was going to really come at him or simply pull yet another feint, Saitou had no other choice but to stay in his put. If he moved at all, Tokio would get hurt.

And he couldn't allow that.

"Heh, you're really calm for a flower bastard."

Saitou actually sighed. "Will you keep _saying_ you'll attack me or are you gonna do it? I don't have all day."

"You fucker!"

Finally! He snapped and attacked; Saitou had been waiting for this. When a person attacks and their mental state is compromised, mistakes pile up and openings are much easier to find; even for a person without any weapon, much like Saitou, disarming or neutralising said opponent becomes ten times easier. So he concentrated on the shears and the man's body, reading his moves like an open book. It was his right foot that tensed up, stomach clutching—he'd make a forward attack and the bastard must have had good footwork.

So he needed to—

He grabbed Toyohisa's wrist with his left hand and twisted until the man screamed in pain and had to let go; t the same time, Saitou brought his right elbow right into his neck and pushed, his foot kicking underneath the man's right knee. His feet gave out, the shears were dropped on the floor and he started coughing heavily.

Success!

That's when he hit the man on the nose and Toyohisa fell to the floor with a thud.

"Wh-…he just…and you…"

Unable to form complete sentences, she looked at Saitou like she was seeing him for the first time, this extraordinary creature in front of her. Who could bring down a dangerous yakuza with nothing but his hands, while wearing the most delightfully playful apron. She just stared.

He was also staring at her but for a different reason. "Are you alright? You don't look like you've been physically hurt but I wanna make sure." He said as he took his cell phone out of his pocket.

"I'm…fine." She finally closed her mouth and collected her thoughts. She knew what she wanted to say. "Who are you? Really?"

He motioned for her to wait. "Okita, did you get all that?" His response must have been favourable because he smirked. "See you in a few." He ended the call. "Help will come shortly." He bent down and grabbed Toyohisa from the wrists. "I need to secure him until the police arrive; you know where we keep the rope, go bring it."

Her chin fell again, finally the pieces falling into place. How could she not see it before? Why was she so insistent on looking only at the lawless side…? She could have slapped herself.

"You are an undercover police officer!"

He looked up at her. "…well don't shout it. He could still wake up."

Somehow that was hilarious to her! She started laughing and laughing and she nearly fell over as she tried to collect the rope from the other room. "He seems too dim; he'll probably think you took self-defence classes. He was way too into his theory of me being the brain behind his marked belvedere."

He smiled, really genuinely smiled, for the first time ever since she met him. "But I hit his head too hard that it might have gone back into place."

She laughed again, throwing him the rope; the more she laughed, the more tension eased off of her shoulders. "Then tie him up good and stay next to him until Okita comes."

"…you heard that."

"Okita is the guy from the club right?" He nodded yes. "Are you guys really friends or is he just a co-worker you couldn't say was a co-worker because then where the hell did he work?"

"He's a friend; he's a good friend." He grinned. "Been that way before we ever joined the force." Oh, she was getting information out of him without pressing; how amazing. "We've been through shit together." She pat him on the back, not knowing what that shit could have been but judging by how fast he reacted, it couldn't have been anything less than too dangerous. "There are things you can't go through with people and not be closer to them."

"…I see."

"Of course the opposite can be said for some others, trust me."

His humour was evident but so was the sincerity of what he was saying; she regarded him for a long moment. "I like you like this" she admitted after long deliberation "you seem…free to be yourself."

That took him completely by surprise; she thought she offended him in some way though, and became too red! "Not that you're too different from how you usually are it's just that your honesty, um your straight-forward nature, err, I mean…ugh." She stopped. "I was trying to pay you a compliment but it came out all wrong, I'm sorry." She shook her head. "Please don't take this the wrong way."

She was so precious, worrying about how he'd take a thing she said after a man attacked them because of him—and he was actually aiming for her, too. He struggled not to smile for the second time – he had a reputation to uphold – and finished tying up the criminal. "I didn't take it as offence, don't worry."

"Oh, good."

"Why the hell you'd worry about something so trivial after all that happened is beyond me though."

"But it's the intention behind it that's important, right? I, I like you; I don't want it to sound the opposite." She smiled. "And you have a ton of things to tell me about how we came from flowers here to the fire at the bar and I wanna get on your good side so you'll tell me without problems."

"I'm a cop and that explains pretty much everything."

She gave him a look. "I want details."

He rolled his eyes. "First we need you to give a deposition; then we'll see." He had seen the police car approaching before she did so he timed his words perfectly to a uniformed man coming in with handcuffs at the ready. "This is Detective Saitou Hajime;" he turned to the officer "be respectful with your witness. I'll deal with the owner of the shop and the employees later."

He turned to look at her for a long time; that bad feeling from the morning came back, only mutated and weirder. Then he said in an even voice: "Bye Tokio."

Somehow that felt a little too final; and she hated how she couldn't get even a goodbye in edgewise.

* * *

 **A/N** : I love you all. Please leave a review on your way out!


	4. Talks and traffic lights

**A/N** : Holly shit, how did this get so big? I was only trying to finish a couple of scenes and boom, 10.000 words plus. Damn, you'll have a lot to read about. Probably another chapter or two to go and it's done.

Dear **anon** , your reviews are delightful and it's a pity I can't answer you so I can only shout out here. Hope your sisters had fun, too.  
Treat for y'all - and most of all, me - **LilyKiss** drew an amazing picture of Saitou with his cute green apron, go check it out on Deviant art. Fanfiction doesn't allow links so search either for "Saitou Tokio rose name".

Back to the story now. Conflicted, confused Saitou for the win. But cut him some slack, he has his own reasons. Also, Tomodaaaaaa! (I really hope you get the reference, please tell me you know the reference, if you know the reference please say so.)  
Hope you enjoy the newest huge chapter, have fun and **not** wanna pull my or your hair out at Saitou's thickheadedness.

* * *

She watched him go deflated. The sense of something lost was too much; she barely registered what the uniformed officer was asking her and now she felt guilty because Saitou had the courtesy to ask him to be respectful with her – not that he shouldn't be anyway, but Saitou asked specifically – and she zoned him out. She sighed.

"Are you alright ma'am?"

Oh great, now she was worrying the man who was taking her statement. "Yes, a little shaken I suppose…"

"It must have been horrible what happened to you, I know; but you're safe now, so all you say will help us put him and his boss behind bars for good."

"I, I know, I'm sorry I needed a moment. I'm fine now, ask again!"

"You're very brave ma'am; thank you. So I'll ask again: how exactly did he come here and how did he look like?"

She took a deep breath; it trembled as she exhaled…she hadn't realised how scared she really was because while Saitou was there, she felt safe enough simply by his presence. But now the memories were coming back and they felt frightening. It was otherworldly how Saitou had managed to remain so calm, making her feel calmer, exuding confidence and certainty this would go well.

But she started her tale and didn't stop until the officer had to start making questions for additional information, or explanations.

When they were done, the man told her how brave she was and how proud she was making her family; to help police with such an important investigation was truly an achievement—she could even be commended for her efforts, called to receive a citizen's award. She smiled and bowed and nodded; how odd, all she could think about was Saitou.

She really wanted to see him again.

.

This was divine grace; she wished for it so much, the universe decided to grant her a favour. It had barely been two days – she kept wishing something that warranted the definition of emergency happened to her so she could call him for help – and she received the most awaited phone call: the officer that had gotten her statement that day, wanted her down the station for some additional questioning.

And, as added bonus, he'd make sure Saitou was at the station that day, help her remember anything she might have forgotten. She had said yes faster than she'd done when she got her first gig as a delivery guy!

She must have thought a thousand times over what she should wear to go to the station, how should her hair be; until she realised, the officer asked her to go in between deliveries. In fact, her stay at the station would be brief enough not to affect her work. Great. Coveralls and a hasty bun it was then. She would never wear anything else other than her own logo to work, no matter who she might have met, but her vanity suffered a little, pride taken down a notch. Oh well; Saitou didn't seem affected by what she wore all that much – then again that might have been a result of his being disinterested. Ugh, she hoped not.

"Hello Saitou!"

She couldn't help the smile that spread on her face when she saw him; her whole face lit up, head cocking to the side. He looked so handsome with his slightly wrinkled white dress shirt, obvious he either slept or run in it, and his loose tie. His trousers were a matching with the tie black that fit him perfectly. He had really long legs.

"Tokio; hey."

It was obvious no one told him _anything_ about her coming to the station, judging by how unprepared he was to her presence; he was walking through the station to get to his office, probably, and stopped, gave her a double take, had to physically walk back to not shout his greeting. To his credit, he didn't drop his coffee, neither the papers he was holding in his other hand.

"So I finally catch you at your real work, hmm?"

She could swear, seeing him so often at his pretend job did a number on her when she knew she wouldn't see him again, at all, at least not for a very serious reason. And every single time she thought to call him and ask him the details of what had happened with the yakuza, she always hesitated. But this chance, it was perfect. And when he graced her with a smirk, nodding just once at her comment, her heart leapt out of her chest.

"Yes; paper work and cubicles, how exiting. I guess that's only one aspect of it though."

"Yeah, the rest is deceiving people and beating up criminals…or managing fires." He raised his hands in defence. "Sort of dangerous but not at all boring, I give you that."

"Yeap." There was a pause. "So what are you doing here?"

"The man with the short brown hair who took my statement the other day?"

"Officer Tomoda?"

"Yes, him! He asked me to come back for some more questions…"

But he was confused, if not a tiny bit suspicious. "But we closed that case; in fact, I'm working on the paperwork for filling it. Why would he call you back?"

She too was officially confused now; she shrugged, wonder visible on her face. But he must have thought of something because, seeing her reaction, he literally put his palm on his forehead and massaged it, to get rid of the wrinkles and the tension.

"I see. Well, Tomoda is over there; he might have thought something last minute that's actually vital for the case."

 _Or he can be pulling my leg_ ; after all, Tomoda and Okita were on very good terms. In fact he and Tomoda were friendly, too, so this may all have been orchestrated by Okita to his expense, using Tomoda's always good intentions. That man loved manipulating people. If he weren't a cop, he'd have easily been one of those meddlesome high-ranking office workers who involved their co-workers in unnecessary drama.

"Oh. Okay." Damn it, was that it? She wanted to talk to him more! "Um, what if he forgot he called me and-?"

"Come with me." He sensed her problem – he thought so anyway – so he escorted her to the officer. "Tomoda, what did you want with Tokio?"

"Oh!" he was sitting with his feet up on his office, pouring over a file on a homicide; the moment he was addressed, he let the chair fall on all four legs and shot up, eyes wide, a lighter shade of green out of surprise! It was obvious he really had forgotten about her, only furthering his belief Okita put him up to this. "Oh right; well, you see, Saitou had, um," he started looking for the file and his notes.

Tokio was watching slightly alarmed but Saitou's amusement levels only rose by the second. "You looking for these?" He brandished the papers in his hands; Tomoda took a quick look.

"Yes!"

"They were with me, seeing I was the one who was in charge of filling them, after getting them all in order, just like you asked me yesterday."

Tomoda became so red, Tokio feared he was having a medical condition! Of course it was all shame and embarrassment at being caught red-handed, prompting Saitou to smirk even wider. "O-of course," Tomoda averted his eyes, digging his finger into the collar of his shirt to give room to himself to breathe "how silly of me, I must have forgotten. But, um, I remember clearly someone-"

"Hello people; oh hi" a shorter man, exactly her height, sprang into the conversation out of nowhere, pretending he hadn't seen Tokio until he came too close "I'm Okita Souji!" He too was wearing a suit without the jacket, only his colours were bold and in your face, much like his personality. "I'm Saitou's friend, do you remember me? We met at the flower shop!"

"Yes, indeed." All these information, she needed to process. "I do remember you; the difficult one. You took ten minutes to decide whether you wanted a bouquet or a pot!" She giggled, but surprisingly Okita laughed along with her. "Well, we could have met at the bar, too but you were both busy then, too preoccupied with a fire that hadn't yet broken out."

"Ah true!"

He was way too cheerful for what she just reminded him; she expected to see him squirm, not exclaim words and smile as if she was talking about the newest development in his favourite show. "What a day that one; so many people hurt. But no one died, aye, we were very proud of that, Saitou and I."

"You could have stopped it from happening altogether though."

" _And miss the lead_? That little puppy nearly closed the case for us! It led Senguji straight to Saitou and the stupid flowers—that's how we got him."

"The belvedere flowers? Oh, Senguji is Toyohisa then."

"Yeah, the same. Apparently those flowers mean 'I declare a war against you', as Saitou found out; we kept finding them in gruesome beatings, next to the man being driven to the hospital or victims of actual assassinations or killings. After we found out their meaning we didn't take long to connect them to Senguji's family—and we singled him out as the easiest target. The thing was, we had to find an angle to get close to him. We figured the flower gig was the least intrusive thus most effective, or else we'd take months to gain the family's trust."

"She doesn't need to and _shouldn't_ know that many details about this _very dangerous case_ , Okita," Saitou snapped his friend "there's no need to involve her any deeper."

"Oh but the case is closed, you said so yourself! So anyway, we had to get someone undercover; Saitou worked undercover; Saitou found the lead about the flower…it worked itself out."

"He's been undercover many times successfully so there was almost guaranteed success in our endeavour, so the commissioner easily allowed us to go through with it." Tomoda informed with a wide smile.

Saitou sighed, annoyed no one was listening to him but everyone ignored him. "So he became a florist!"

Yeah that was something she wondered about. "…how did you even prepare for something like that?"

"Internet and book research; asked a couple of people who worked as florists, too." he shrugged. "It wasn't that hard."

"But what about the bouquets? My mum still wants to meet you and thank you for the flowers, they were so pretty! How does one even train for that?"

"I winged it." her chin fell. "No really; I only did whatever I thought was prettier or women would like."

She started laughing. "You half-assed the wrapping so badly!"

He faux-glared, but Okita was visibly interested in the new information. "Your mum?"

"Mum was at the hospital at the time so I commissioned some get-well bouquets from time to time; she enjoyed them so much, she wanted to meet him!"

It might have had to do with the fact Tokio kept going on and on about him to her mother and her mother wasn't an idiot so she realised her daughter liked him. But she wasn't about to divulge that.

"Heh," Okita drawled devilishly "flowers and chocolates; the sure-fire way to any woman's heart…but my date the other night. Ugh!" he leaned to Tokio, as if to share something in her confidence. "She slapped me right here for daring to bring her flowers; said it's an archaic sexist custom of lazy men who only want an easy way into your pants." He snorted. "Can you believe it? Me? Sexist?"

Saitou chuckled. "But you **are** lazy and only tried to get into her pants."

"No! I detest that; in fact I was trying to relive my youth with her. When I was innocent and cute…but it turns out she's more on the conservative than the shy side." He sighed. "At least I did get something out of our acquaintance." She nodded "what" with her head; Okita smiled proud. "Her sister."

Both Tomoda and Tokio stared in equal shock; Saitou shook his head. "This is why you always go on first days."

Okita pretended to be offended the way both spectators slapped a hand over their mouths in a futile attempt not to laugh. "At least I do, detective Saitou!" he sassed him back. "How about you? Haven't been on a first date in years!"

Tokio was shocked at that; the hell? She kept asking him out and he kept saying no! Well it made sense if he was generally dense with women.

"…that's because I work Okita; I'm already two ranks above you and we entered the same year."

Ah there it is; he is a workaholic. But maybe that meant she had a chance, if she made it very obvious to him, right? She was silently watching their bantering, recording each and every piece of information she was receiving at the back of her mind for later reference.

"That's only because you always take the most dangerous cases or the most dangerous part! Since you succeed of course you'll get promoted faster."

"It's not that dangerous," he said dismissively. "It really isn't," he assured Tokio who looked like she was buying nothing of what he was selling. "I've never failed a single assignment so how difficult can it be?"

"What? One time you were shot three times and got eleven stitches!" Tomoda had to intervene at the ridiculousness of what Saitou was saying. "He was stabbed with a knife that its blade was bigger than my wrist and below!" he informed Tokio scandalised who looked just as scandalised as him. "Know where? Right at the-!"

"Okay, okay, all of you are overreacting. I was barely scratched by the bullets; and the knife only grazed me."

"You took a leave for two weeks."

"No, they _made_ me take that leave; I wanted to come back immediately."

"Alright that's insane," Tokio set things straight "no one should be that enthusiastic at the prospect of being tortured at work again. And as wonderful as this is, why am I here? Shouldn't I answer some questions? I still have work to do after this."

"Oh right! Well, I thought I had some questions so I told Tomoda to bring you down but it turns out there was nothing left to sort out…but I didn't tell him to not bring you down after all because I thought it'd be fun to meet you."

Tokio glared, Saitou following her example. "I have work to do!" she exclaimed indignant.

"You can slap him if you like." Saitou suggested. "I wouldn't stop you."

"Me neither." Tomoda instigated further.

Okita took a sharp intake of breath. "Nice police officers you are! But I wouldn't stop you either Tokio-chan, I do not manhandle women."

She laughed, causing all three men to look at her surprised; no outsider had ever, ever laughed at their back and forth, making them truly believe they were the only ones that actually understood the other's sense of humour—one of the reasons they grew so close with Tomoda, too.

"I think you enjoy pain Okita-san," she said through laughs, catching her stomach…making Tomoda laugh along, enjoying her comment. "Well, this was fun." It really was, she enjoyed talking to Saitou so casually; and his friends were entertaining. That was when she made a decision. "Nevertheless I have to return to my schedule. If this is all, I should go."

"Fair enough; it was nice meeting you, Tokio-chan." Okita took a deep bow, Tomoda imitated him.

"It really was."

"I agree; thank you for your time gentlemen. Um, Saitou can I talk to you for a moment?"

He nodded and followed her a couple of metres to the left, where they would have some semblance of privacy. The two men followed them with their eyes as they returned to their own routine, keeping an ear out for whatever they could catch.

"I guess I no longer have to hound you to get answers about what happened," she started, trying to joke her nerves away "so I don't have to keep asking you to tell me over coffee." He silently agreed, trying hard to see her point or why she was stating the obvious. "I mean that pretty much answered everything; Okita-san sure is talkative…! That being said, I am not opposed to grabbing a coffee some time anyway. You know, whenever…"

Uh huh; why was she being so weird about something so simple? They've had coffee so many times. He urged her to continue, struggling to understand her discomfort. "So, um, if at any point you feel like it, you know my schedule, just call me. I'd love to."

He nodded, slightly confused. "Okay," he simply said nodded for good measure. "I'll keep it in mind. Is that all?"

She fought the blush back with all she had but only made it worse. "Yes, that's all; uh huh, that's about it. So um, err, I guess I'll see you around?"

"Yeah."

"Great! See you around then. I'm gonna go now. It was nice meeting your friends. Bye Saitou."

Uuuuugh why was he being so casual? Did he understand nothing? She just asked him out and he only said okay like it was no big deal! She groaned her frustration away as she scratched her face out of pure indignation. He just didn't. Get it.

And Okita agreed 100% with her about his friend's obliviousness. He took him aside, shoving him towards Tomoda's direction and positioned him against the two of them. He put his palms flat against each other in front of his face and took a deep breath. Then he intertwined his fingers and cracked them.

He put his arm around the taller man and it was almost comical, but that never stopped him before. "Saitou my friend, bud, dude, my man…that girl likes you."

"Sure; I like her, too. She's nice."

"No, no, no you misunderstand; I don't mean she vaguely likes you…I mean she digs you, man. She totally wants you. I mean if I were her, I'd be totally trying to get in your pants." Saitou had a horrified expression by his friend's choice of words. "Tomoda, you tell him, too."

He shrugged. "I saw she liked him but not necessarily romantically; but she did have a slight inclination towards you."

"That's because she knows me; Okita, she doesn't like me that way. She's just being friendly. Not every woman is interested in a man because they are a man."

"Fair enough; but this one _wants_ you. What d'she say when you were alone? Did she ask you out?"

Saitou considered. "No; I mean, she said we didn't **have** to go out for a coffee but she'd like to but we've had coffee a hundred times."

Tomoda widened his eyes. "That does sound like she was hitting on you Saitou-san."

"No, she wasn't" he countered rolling his eyes "don't read too much into things. This is also why you're always getting slapped Okita."

"Real talk, I get slapped because I'm being crude not because I can't read the signals; I just act too soon. You on the other hand, can't read them at all." He turned to their co-worker. "Did you know she kissed him on the cheek Tomoda?"

"What? Saitou-san, come on, she definitely likes you more than a friend."

"She just found out I had saved her life; she was only thanking me."

"Well that sounds reasonable, to kiss you if she found out something like that, but it could always mean something more."

"Ugh!" Okita shook his head disappointed. "Much help you are, Tomoda! Don't try to please both of us, say your opinion."

"I'll need to see her more for that!"

"Whatever; when she gives up, too don't come asking why. It's because you won't make a goddamn move."

With those being his final words, he sauntered away, leaving the other two in awkward silence. "I'm sorry we dragged you into this." He said, too and walked away after a sincere "it's no problem, really!"

.

A week; it had been a week and she hadn't heard a single word from the ever-busy police officer. Just how busy can one person be to not have time for a single cup of coffee—half an hour of socialising? She wouldn't even take him out of his usual route, she'd meet him wherever he wanted. But nope, not even a text.

She sighed, drumming her fingers on the steering wheel, waiting for the light to turn green. It did no one any good, especially her, to mentally complain to herself, thus she was driving her chrome red Toyota to her friend Yayoi, to complain to her about her romantic life. Or the lack thereof. Sighing again, she waited. She was so jumpy…!

The light finally turned green; the gear was in and she pushed the pedal in seconds. And just as she was about to pass the junction, she first heard it, didn't really register, but then she saw it: two high headlights came for her with incredible speed! She accelerated, trying to avoid a direct hit with the out-of-control convertible, but it was no use. The car rammed straight into her tail, spinning her a couple of times, as she let go of the wheel and the pedals in a final effort to minimise the damage!

The world was spinning with the car, dizzying her, making her head hurt in ways she had never experienced before. It all came to a stop – thankfully – when the cars crashed into the wall.

"AH!"

She felt her ribs being crushed by the weight that settled in, finding it difficult to breathe. She looked around her, lost; what had happened? She blinked, trying to stop the pounding in her head but it didn't work. Still, she had to put her thoughts in order. She was driving, stopped at a red light; started when it turned green…and a car came crashing into her. Right.

She had been in an accident.

With incredible effort, she moved her hand around; that was all she could move, she found, as she realised she was trying to move her torso, too but it was just too firmly held into place. She dared to look and she saw the passenger's and back seats pressing against her side and back, while the convertible's hood was were the backseats were supposed to be. She could see into the other car and the driver, a young man of maybe twenty, maybe younger, was sitting up in his seat, bleeding and unconscious.

She looked around; this intersection was all but deserted, only traffic signs and lights around, with no apartment buildings or stores so people would walk around…she was their only hope of anyone noticing fast enough to help.

She thanked her lucky stars she left her cell phone in her left jacket pocket tonight and fished inside to grab it; it hurt more than she thought it would, but hell, she could still feel pain and all of her limbs so that was a huge step in the right direction. She pressed speed dial and the first person was her mother; she would panic way too much, no. Then it was Yayoi; she would panic, too but she'd get it together fast enough to call.

If she could talk. She was losing consciousness fast and had no idea what could be wrong with her. She dared not look at herself.

But the next person was Saitou; he could trace the call, even if all she could say were incomprehensible things. She had a darker thought then; if she was going to get seriously damaged, maybe she wanted to hear his voice one last time, while she still recognised it. Mind made up, she pressed the call button and waited; the three most agonising seconds in her entire life until she heard:

"This is detective Saitou Hajime; who is this?"

"It's…Tokio…" She appreciated how prepared for the worst this man was and immediately must have been alerted to all the small signs that things had gone wrong and she must have been in trouble. The difficulty breathing was getting worse, she was wheezing now. "I've…been…in an accident."

"I can track your location, don't speak; we'll be there as soon as possible. Leave the line open and try not to fall asleep. The ambulance will arrive before us; you'll be fine. You'll be fine, just hang on. You'll be fine…"

 _You'll be fine_ , was the last thing she clearly heard; you'll be fine, her mind repeated firmly; sometimes it shouted it at her; others it was barely a whisper, soft like a mantra. You'll be _fine_ ; you'll **be** fine;

 _I'll be fine_.

She remembered fragments, broken things like memories. Sounds of sirens in the background; paramedics prying her eyes open and checking for response; voices speaking in rushed tones and loud voices; probing tools; sounds of sawing, sparks flying. And a familiar deep voice, steadily there, steadily steady, encouraging her or describing the situation _._

 _These people will help you, don't worry;_

 _The other man is already out, his convertible allowed for easier access, don't worry about him;_

 _We'll get you out, but the cars are stuck – you're very strong – we'll deploy some heavy machinery, don't be alarmed;_

 _No one will hurt you, they have done this a thousand times;_

 _You're so brave, you got this;_

 _They finally cut the metal, you'll be free;_

 _I'm here;_

 _I'm calling your parents;_

 _I'm here;_

 _Said they'll be getting a cab and come to the Kyoto City hospital, that's where we're taking you;_

 _I'm here; I'm here_ ;

I'm here.

She opened her eyes; the light hurt them. Slowly, she realised it was the headache that was the problem, not the artificial lights glaring down at her. She tried to move but everything hurt, too; not just her head then, good to know. But she **had** to move, regardless of pain. She put all of her effort into sitting up.

"No honey, sit back down!"

That was her mom's voice. Why wouldn't she open her eyes? She had to open her eyes, but it was too much work…

"Let her do what she likes honey; the doctor said she should be fine."

That was dad, always the reasonable one; still, he sounded more anxious than her mother. Well, in true dad fashion, he was way more worried but way less expressive about it. Alright, she really had to open her eyes now. Wait, did her mom just sob _? Alright, alright, alright, wake up, damn it_. But she was too sleepy, pained and plainly tired, to open those damn eyes; she struggled but they felt like lead. She needed to throw some water on her face.

Or drink it; she attempted to speak, calm her mother, and nothing came out.

A hand supported her as she tried to sit up; after – probably – her mother fluffed up the pillow, she was gently let down on it and she was successfully sitting up. Still, she wouldn't open her eyes, but with her hand reached out to where the table must have been, trying to grab some water. The hand grabbed her wrist, steadied it, and in a second another hand put the glass in her outstretched hand.

"Thank you," she mouthed as her attempt to speak proved futile once more. She started drinking greedily. "More" she mouthed again and heard her mother say "yes honey" and shuffle about; so she wasn't the one helping her. Then her mother handed the pitcher to someone else because the other hand never left hers, so her dad. Sweet daddy, always helping her. He could be such a softie.

She was handed the full glass again; she motioned to be let go and once her dad obeyed she threw the water at her face. "Tokio!" Finally, her eyes could open now! She left the glass in her lap, disregarding her mortified mother, and rubbed at her eyes with a vengeance. After half a minute, she blinked.

"Finally, I can see." She commented, turning her eyes to where she heard her mother; well, see was an exaggeration, she barely made out outlines. But that was unmistakably— "Hey ma." Her voice was hoarse and sounded like it came from someone else but it was working again. She felt asphyxiated by the overwhelming hug her parents gave her at the same time, but she leaned into them, patting their backs. "Dad; hope I didn't worry you too much."

"Yes, you did! You had us worry sick! And if it weren't for Hajime-san we wouldn't even know you were in an accident!"

"Huh?"

She only distantly realised that the moment she was hugged by her parents the other hand let go; she turned to the best of her ability and…she couldn't believe it. Saitou was standing only half a metre away from her. She was left staring. What was he even doing there…?

"Tokio, you were involved in a car accident not five hours ago; a blue convertible crashed into your car and you were both pinned to the wall of a maintenance building."

"…I remember that. Is, is the boy alright? He was hurt worse than me…"

"Oh honey, don't worry about others in such a situation. Especially since he was the one who did this—it's his fault," her mother complained and grabbed her hand.

A tired smile appeared on Saitou's lips then, who answered anyway. "He was rescued, yes; this is the second time you ask me."

"It is?" He nodded affirmatively. "I thought…so that happened."

"It did; it's amazing you remember."

She returned the smile, weaker but honestly. "How is he?"

"…he hasn't woken up yet," her father informed.

Saitou took over again. "His trauma was much more serious than yours and directly at the left side of his skull. You were lucky your car was hit from behind. Also, your safety belt pretty much prevented most of the damage. You have hit your head, probably fractured a couple of ribs but you will be fine in no time. Some cuts and bruises here and there, too but nothing too serious."

"I see…why did he ran into me? Do we know?"

"Drugs, alcohol, everything was found in him; he's a rich kid with his dad's car. Let's hope he won't pay for it with his life." She nodded she agreed; it would be a shame. "Well, I have to go; I'm glad you are awake."

"No, wait," she drawled "wait, wait. Do you know when I'll be released?"

"No; the doctor said that would depend entirely on you." She became downcast; he suddenly became awkward. For the first time in his life he didn't know what the right thing to say was. Should he try and cheer her up? But thank god she asked a question he could answer: "Was my cell phone recovered?"

"Yes, I left it with your mum; your friend Yayoi was calling you but I didn't answer."

"I did; told her what happened. I convinced her to stay home tonight and come at another time, they won't allow any more visitors anyway."

Tokio was thoughtful again, looking down. Saitou was hovering at the door, unable to leave, even if he had clearly said he'd do so. Something deep inside, like a gut feeling, was telling him not to leave; but the fact he was still a police officer who had to go and file her paperwork still remained.

"I'll come visit you tomorrow; but I really have to go now." He didn't know why but he felt like he needed to justify his absence.

That took her out of her thoughts. "Yes, of course." She tried to smile, despite her pain and exhaustion. "Thank you for staying as long as you did. And…thank you for everything."

"That's-…" my job, he was going to say, yet he refrained; it wasn't, not really. Maybe keeping her on the line till help went there, reporting her accident, yes; going there physically and staying with her wasn't. That he did because…he shook his head. "I wanted to make sure you were alright." And that was the truth. "So I'll come tomorrow. Bye for now."

He nodded to her parents and left.

"Honey," her mother began, obviously confused "who was that person? How do you know Hajime-san? He's a police officer. Why did you have run-ins with the law? Did something happen I don't know of?"

She chuckled, but her ribs hurt. Damn, they must have indeed fractured. "No ma, he's a friend; I had no problems with the law. Now can I sleep? I am so tired…!" It would be too much work to explain to her he was the man with the bouquets.

"Wait! I'll call the doctor and ask him about your progress now that you're awake."

Her mum disappeared, too; she turned to her father, looking a tiny bit lost but her father was assertive. "I'm just happy you're awake and talk to us like this. I couldn't care less about who that man was; hell, he helped." She leaned towards him; he pat her head. "Sleep; your mum won't wake you."

"Thanks dad…"

.

"Saitou, where were you last night? I waited for hours!" were the first words out of the man's mouth when they met at work; when Saitou started, Okita got off, so they only met for some minutes, half an hour tops.

"…oh."

That's right; that's what he was forgetting. He was supposed to meet up with Okita right after work, at Okita's apartment. But Tokio had called just before he left and suddenly everything took a backseat. He couldn't forget the sound of her voice or how his blood froze when he heard her laboured breathing. It was…unusual to him. He didn't care this much about many people—too few in fact. How did she jump up to that status without him noticing?

"Oh? That's all you have to say?"

"Sorry; Tokio called me yesterday…she had been in a car accident."

Just as he was about to make a devious comment, the smile died on his lips, concern replacing it in milliseconds. "Oh my god; is she alright?"

"…she will be. Doctor said she had a slight concussion, some fractured ribs and a twisted ankle. The standard bruising and small cuts, too. In fact, considering we had to saw her out of the car, she's great."

"What happened!?"

"You should have seen it; it was like her Toyota only had a driver's seat, the rest were squashed by the other car." He sounded casual, but he kept talking like he didn't hear his friend's question.

"She really is lucky if she only got that much!"

"For a moment there, when I first looked at the scene, I feared I wouldn't find her breathing." Okita took a moment to fully appreciate the severity of the situation and show his support, seeing how this had affected Saitou, even if he tried to play it cool. "Turns out the kid who was driving the car that hit her is far more serious than her; still hasn't woken up."

"Oh, so she was hit?"

"Yeah; some kid pumped himself full of all kind of illegal things and alcohol and went out driving." He finally allowed himself to look genuinely angry. "I don't understand how such irresponsible people even exist."

"I know man…you went to the hospital with her, right?"

"Yeah."

"Wanna go see her together when your shift is over? We're cops, it's not like they'll tell us we can't be there."

"Yeah, I think she'll be happy to see us both there. She did like you. Maybe we should invite Tomoda, too."

He was sort of doing it for support for his friend at first, but it would be great if she was glad to see him and Tomoda again. "Okay; you have the same shift so you tell him."

"I will; see you later then."

.

.

"Hey Saitou…guys!"

She smiled widely at them from the bed she was sitting in. She looked far, far better than yesterday night, but now that he had come and gone, he would notice little things wrong with her that he didn't catch yesterday and Saitou's blood pressure rose a little.

Okita flew to her side. "Tokio-chan! Saitou told us about your accident today morning and we were horrified!"

"We are very happy to see he was very precise about his positive assessment of your health," Tomoda started, leaving the get-well-soon gift of basket full of fruit at her bed-side table "when he told us what happened we were sure it was wishful thinking."

"No, surprisingly I'm well; and not two hours ago the kid finally woke up and actually talked, so they are very optimistic about him. My parents finally left, too—gonna go shower, change and come back."

"I'm glad he's awake but he should have been more careful," Okita gave his two cents.

"Hopefully he'll learn his lesson now." Saitou supplied, coming to stand next to her.

"He has; I went to see him. They let me in, told him what happened; he broke down crying. Swore off his partying days in an instant."

"He'd better," Saitou snubbed. "And your mother is right; don't care so much about others when you yourself are hurt."

"Enough about that;" Tomoda cut the conversation "how are you? What did the doctor say?"

"I'm much better than yesterday; said I can go in two days tops! The only sad part is I can't work till the end of the week. Oh; and my ribs are actually fractured but there's nothing to help with that so I'll be in for a month of pain."

"Can't you take off from work for a while longer?"

"Asked the guy who requested to be put back into active duty after getting shot," Tokio said meaningfully; Saitou felt the need to remind her his line of work and his were very different but then again, being a workaholic didn't discriminate. But he couldn't help but feel protective. He was too shaken that night to act all nonchalant and okay with this. Because he kept noticing a huge bruise on her arm, from the wrist up and one on the right side of her face that covered almost half of it and all he could focus on was that people who delivered flowers should never be this hurt.

She was looking better but not good.

"But he makes a valid point," Tomoda noted. "If you didn't drive, you'd heal faster."

At least Tomoda agreed with him; _thanks Tomoda._

"And how will I make a living, my friend?" She chuckled. "Dad can't drive around in my place and I wouldn't burden anyone else with it, so…"

"Life's hard," Okita commented "but hey, at least you're whole. That's important."

"Thank you." She smiled. "It's in part because of your friend." That she said a little shyly. "I called him and he kept me awake enough not to pass out when I shouldn't. Plus he called the ambulance and all and I was saved."

That drew Tomoda's attention from the first time he heard it and it certainly did now, too. "How come you called him, by the way?" Didn't people usually call family or close friends in these situations?

 _Because I was thinking about him_ , was her first thought, _and_ "because he's an officer; didn't know if I could speak all that well so I figured even if I only said my name he could probably find me, which was exactly what happened." She shrugged. "It hurt to talk so I couldn't say all that much; but you found me. Thank you."

"We've already said that, no need to thank me again."

"Saitou's allergic to bragging," Okita commented amused "if you thank him for a third time, he'll implode."

"Idiot."

Tomoda decided to stop the fight before it started and directed the attention to himself by standing abruptly from the foot of the bed where he had sat. "Well, we saw you, you look well; I think we should be going. We already took advantage of our positions to get in here; let's not abuse our power anymore tonight."

"Yes, that's true; I was surprised to see you were allowed to be honest, but I guess now I know why."

"We had to; we wouldn't rest easy otherwise, not when our favourite delivery guy was hurt. Bye bye Tokio-chan!"

"Bye guys. See you some other day…!"

.

Today was the day she was finally getting released; yesterday had been slow, only her parents and Yayoi visited her and not that long. She was making quite the effort to seem better than she was and that took a different toll: making people believe she was feeling better than she was, so they treated her more like usual and less like she had suffered a dangerous car accident.

Then her cell phone rang and the name she saw on the caller ID made her smile, even if she didn't feel like it before.

"Hey Saitou; how are you?"

"I'm well; are you?"

"Pretty much. Only the pain on the ribs remains now."

"Tokio, I have a direct line to your attending doctor, don't lie to me."

Okay, she didn't expect that kind of an answer, it took her completely by surprise. She smiled guiltily then but he couldn't see her and only after she did it did she realise and felt like an idiot because now the silence dragged too much—oh my god, say something Tokio! But instead of her, she heard him sigh and take over the conversation again.

"Are you leaving today?"

"Yes! In a couple of hours from now the paperwork will be ready, I think."

"Is there anyone to take you home?"

"Oh, that." She blanked; shoot! She hadn't thought of it at all. "Um, well, look how this goes, I was supposed to-,"

"So no."

"Yes, I forgot…"

She could _see_ him roll his eyes, so vividly she remembered him doing it. "Alright, I'll come pick you up;" her heart stopped "make sure about the paperwork and call me to tell me the time. Then _remember_ to call your parents and tell them I'll be taking you home. We good?"

She didn't respond; she couldn't. She just stood there with the phone in her hand, staring at nothing and blushing ten shades darker. "We good?" he probed again.

"Yes, we're good; I'll, I'll go find out. Right now!" she almost hung up on him. "Bye Saitou; talk to you in a bit."

She hastily threw the cell phone on the bed – not realising it would have been faster to take it with her in that moment – and went off in a search of a nurse or her doctor. She accosted a young nurse in the end, who informed her only the doctor and the head nurse were responsible for these things. She found her doctor ten minutes later, by waiting for him in front of the nurses' station; she had suspected he spent more time than needed there because he was hitting on a nurse and turned out she was right. So she asked him about her release papers.

"It takes about half an hour for everything to be processed. Want me to tell them to start now?"

"Yes please; I can always pick them up on my way out; I don't have to leave the moment they are ready right?"

"Of course; they'll be waiting for you at the reception."

"Marvellous; then please tell them to get the papers ready. I'm leaving the soonest possible."

That's when she realised her mistake; she reached in her pocket for the phone, only to remember she left it on her bed. Oh well, she was going there anyway… "Hey, Saitou; you can come whenever you want after 12."

"Alright; remember to tell your parents. Also, this is my work number and it's inconvenient to talk here; I'll give you my personal one. You got any paper close by?"

"Err, wait, I'll look for it."

"Know what, never mind; I'll just send it to you. Call me there if you need anything else till I come, which will be around one o clock. Use this number only for emergencies that require lawful action, okay?"

She chuckled…but that hurt. She held on to her ribs for support. "Ah, yes, okay; bye for now."

"Bye."

When she heard the line die, she just looked down at her hand; was this real? He was the one who called her, right? He even asked her to come pick her up. And he gave her his personal number—he gave her his number on his own for the second time! She wasn't crazy thinking he might like her back right? Not that she had much stamina for these kind of things right now; she only wanted to bury herself under a blanket and drink hot tea until she felt better! But if that happened to be in the company of a man she liked, even better.

.

"Tokio," he made himself known as he entered her hospital room and saw she was bending over the small suitcase her mother had brought – seeing the clothes she was wearing during the accident were now unwearable –.

"Ah, hello," she straightened "I can't get the damn thing to close." She was this close to kicking it. "I tried everything, I've been fighting with it for the past ten minutes!"

"Let me see it," he offered.

He had reached her in two strides and she nearly jumped out of her skin; he was there one second and the next he was next to her! How did he do that? She leaned away from her suitcase so he could grab it. Meanwhile she simply enjoyed seeing him in a suit again; they looked so good on him. And these colours, blue and black…very flattering.

"You just broke off a tooth of the zipper," he spoke like a mechanic, examining a car; she tried not to giggle "it can be fixed."

"Can _you_ fix it? Because at this point I usually throw them away and buy a new one."

"It's no problem. Have any scissors around?"

"Yeah." She opened the top right of the built in cupboards of the room and produced them. "They have all sorts of things in here!" she commented as she passed the tool to him "I even found a scalpel; fortunately no blood on it. At least, not any I could see."

He had started his own "surgery" on the case, tie put in his pocket not to get in the way; she was standing there watching him. "You are very curious."

"I was confined in one place for hours on end; I had to start opening cupboards! Ma forgot to bring me anything to read…"

He tried to hide his smile; he would've definitely done the same thing.

"Here; ready," he said a minute later.

To prove his point, he zipped it closed. She seemed impressed; he felt a little bit better about himself. "How did you do that?" She was close enough to inspect it now. "Thank you! You're very handy."

He saw through her distractions and flattery though, and expertly took the suitcase out of her looming grip. She was seriously going to carry it; with him in the room; while she was still hurt? If looks could kill…she gave an innocent smile.

Shaking his head, he opted to ask "Are all of your things packed?"

She considered. "Yes, I think so."

"…check again."

"But I just said-"

"You tend to forget things."

She seemed offended. "I don't forget things!"

" _Tend_ to forget." Pursing her lips, she glared. _Okay, let's try this_ : "what did your parents say when you told them I'd be driving you home?"

Her glare was gone and her lips relaxed; slowly a very different kind of expression took over, something that looked awfully a lot like regret and being caught red-handed. _Fuck_ ; she had absolutely, completely, wholly forgotten to call them; she had been so excited about it, she called Yayoi to let her know and be excited with her, she didn't remember them. _Fuck_.

He snorted.

"I'll tell you what they said: they told me I didn't have to go into so much trouble etc, etc, because _I_ called them twenty minutes ago and said I was on my way to you." Her cheeks flushed and she looked away, obviously enjoying herself but too well-mannered to throw it in his face. "So check again."

The triumph in his eyes as he said that was too much. Especially when she finally conceded and went through everything again; unsurprisingly, the new research yielded a brush, one glass bottle filled with water and a pair of shoes. Every time she found an item, he'd give her _the look_ ; every time he'd give her the look she would turn away, dignified. After five minutes of this, and everything being put in one place, she sighed.

"Now I think we're ready."

 _You don't say_ , said his challenging eyes; she kept up her dignified expression and led him outside and towards the reception where she should pick up her papers. Thankfully, the doctor hadn't been too preoccupied with the beautiful nurse and actually remembered to give the orders, so they checked out without any difficulties. They moved to the parking lot, where he took the lead and guided her to a black Mazda that he had actually parked very close to the entrance.

How thoughtful of him.

He pressed the button and the car unlocked; he pressed another button and the port baggage opened; he deposited the case there with care and the rest of the things she found after the second inspection; then he opened the door for her. He purposefully walked three paces ahead, seeing she had some difficulty walking due to her ribs, so he could reach there faster; he wanted to be nice, open doors for her.

Why, it was beyond him. His mind told him it was only natural to be nice to people who had suffered injury, he had always been caring in his own way in those sort of situations; to Okita for example. And Tomoda a couple of times. But who else? No one. And something deep inside him told him he would have been nice to her regardless of injury. That troubled him. Why was that? Did he still feel guilty about being attacked by Senguji because of him? Nah, it can't be that; he wasn't that sort of person. It happened, he protected her, end of story.

Then what was it?

"Thank you, Saitou," she said brightly as he helped her inside.

"Idiot," he snapped as he closed the door; when he got into the car himself, he continued like he had never paused "and you wanted to carry your luggage. You can barely walk properly on your own."

She shrugged, as he was backing up, trying to leave the parking lot. "Once I get back to work, I won't have anyone helping though; I should get used to it."

He glared fiercely then, mid-motion. "You better not think of carrying any weight with those ribs of yours; drive if you must, but have someone else do the heavy lifting."

She seemed reassuring, giving him a thumbs up. "I'll try!"

"That's not good enough!"

He stopped driving to look at her stricken face; this was the first time she ever heard his voice so deep and demanding. It was a little…unnerving. He could be very imposing when he wanted.

"Don't force my hand, Tokio; I'll personally come and impound your truck if I see you carry even a single crate." That's when he started driving again. "Your health is equally as important as your work you know."

"…okay," was all she could say.

She looked at him apprehensively. Alright, she wasn't scared of him, or because of him, but she realised he had a more forceful side that she hadn't seen, probably because he was always off serious duty at the station or he had to act a certain way at the flower shop. But he was very stubborn and absolute; his way or no way. As if he was always right, no matter what he'd said, or there was only one side to any argument, his.

Using only his peripheral vision to keep an eye on her now, seeing he was driving, he didn't fail to notice she was put off; also, she looked like she wanted to say something, but kept deciding against it. Again, for an unfathomable reason, despite knowing what he said was right and proper, he felt he had to justify himself to her, not liking how she looked or the way she was actually hesitant around him.

"I know you think I'm being a hypocrite given what Okita told you, but I'm not. It's not the same."

"What isn't?"

She was already testy, damn. "My job is meant to put me in danger; I'm trained to work with the pain and expect it. Besides, if you have a gun it means you may get to use it and if I'm willing to shoot people then I better be prepared to get shot at." To her credit, she seemed to be listening to him. "You just deliver flowers; what pain are you supposed to endure and why? Besides, if you don't go to work for a week you'll fall a little behind but make up for lost time easily; if I don't, murders go unsolved, and worst case scenario crimes that might have been prevented happen."

"Yeah alright; but don't act like my job is any less important—it's important to me."

"I know; I'm sorry if it came out that way. I understand taking pride in your work."

There was a lull of silence; it wasn't as comfortable as he'd like it though, he could feel her tension. He sighed. "All I'm saying is my work is _meant_ to be dangerous; yours isn't."

"…you work undercover for a long time?"

Ah good, change of subject. "Five years now."

"Isn't it too dangerous? I mean, being a detective isn't the safest but being undercover…"

He considered. "It is."

"Then why do you do it?"

"I'm good at it."

She clicked her tongue. "And that is the only thing a man like you is good at? You seem pretty talented."

He chuckled, finally some humour returning to the conversation. "Well no, but…I'm really good at it. And not many people are as good at it as I am."

"Alright; but isn't five years too long, even for officers with a knack for it? Why don't you change your post?"

"…I was undercover with Okita; it's sort of an unspoken thing between us that I serve his time, too."

"He quit being undercover then?" He nodded. "Why?"

He opened his mouth…but then closed it again. He didn't know if he wanted to share that story yet. "Ask me something else."

She respected it wasn't his story to share so she readily asked "you always wanted to be undercover?"

"Yes and no; I wanted to be a police officer from a relatively young age but the undercover part came later."

"How come you knew you wanted to be a police officer?"

His lips were graced with a knowing smirk. "Aright; first you have to know Okita and I met on the streets." That took her by surprise. "We were both orphaned at a young age and started roaming the streets too early. But we found each other; we became friends. Now for one reason or the other, we gathered other people around us, we had some sort of gang. But we weren't…bad, we took people under our wing, kind of. There are nasty dealings on the streets and we were forced to watch the adults' world too young. But the kids' world wasn't all that better; and the ones that took the beatings were usually the ones who didn't deserve them. So we made sure the right people got what was coming to them and not the other way round."

She nodded and hummed accordingly to let him know he could go on whenever. "We were sixteen when Okita and I witnessed a murder." She made a sharp sound. "But surprisingly, instead of calling the police or an adult, we…sort of followed the guy; we hounded him for hours. That was both our first instinct, don't know why: catch him and bring him to justice. In the end, he couldn't ignore us and turned to face us. But we knew he had a gun so we knew how to deal with him."

He chuckled at the memory. "Okita is very nimble and quick; he disarmed him before he could react. And I'm strong," there she was the one who chuckled, giving him a knowing look "as you've already pointed out, yes, so I took him out easily. Then we finally took him to the police…the officer that we later grew accustomed to calling Kondo-sempai, gave us a piece of his mind alright! How we were just kids, we were irresponsible and put not just ourselves, but others at risk, too. Yet, he handed us some forms and told us to do something useful with our lives; and if we got our asses down to study, we'd definitely join the force sooner or later."

His expression didn't change all that much but she could see nostalgia somewhere in there. "And just like that, we knew what we wanted to do: join the force; it came so naturally. Kondo-san even helped us with applications and everything."

"Oh, he's your mentor!"

"Was; he was killed two years ago in a gang war. At least he managed to build a solid case to take down most of the people responsible."

"I'm so sorry."

"Don't be; he wouldn't want you to."

"Does he-…did he have any children?"

"No; he divorced before he could leave any heirs. His wife couldn't handle the danger, he was too deep in his cases."

"…this is why Okita-san has to go on so many first dates, isn't it?"

"Yeah," he agreed after a beat "most women tend to scare away or simply can't put up with the schedule; when you miss too many dinners or too many anniversaries or forget birthdays…"

Was it her idea or was he speaking from personal experience? "I see." Better not press; but it was only normal. He was an officer, too and with a much more dangerous post than Okita.

"And Okita, he's a people's person;" the _unlike me_ was silent "he does make it past the first date, but after the third or the fourth…women usually give up."

"But it can't be all bad; some women suffer through the schedules, or else all officers would be single, right?"

He chuckled. "Well, most are divorced."

She laughed. "I see; so Okita took another post to have more chances with the ladies!" what does that say about Saitou though?

"Yes; and no. Look, we all have those moments, the turning points; he had it young. I'm not the only one who gets shot after all; I just recover faster and don't care all that much."

She seemed interested in that. And they just stopped at a red light so he couldn't ignore her with the excuse he was driving. _Traitor_ , he accused the traffic light. But damn, he'd spill everything in one ride! How? Why was she doing this to him, with her questioning looks and undivided attention? He sighed. He gave up.

"Okita was undercover, just came out of a big case and he'd been with this girl for four months, a record for him. So he asked her to go somewhere fancy to celebrate the occasion; she was thrilled, seeing they didn't have many chances to go out together. She was a good girl, nice, polite, caring."

Red light turned green, but it was too late. The tale had begun.

"So she gets all dolled up, Okita dresses to impress; they are both good looking people so heads turn…they go to this restaurant, very expensive, very famous. And people look; but in those people was also a man; a man who recognised Okita as the "snitch" that got his one brother arrested and his other brother killed." He paused for a second. "Without a second thought he gets up, stalks to his table and shoots him point blank."

She covered her mouth with both her hands, a sharp intake of breath almost stopping her heart.

"Blood everywhere, screams all around no doubt; we were called in, in record time that day. I was the responding officer because I knew; I knew Okita was there at that time. So why wasn't he the one reporting it? Because he was the one shot; I knew it in my gut before I saw it or even heard the description of the victim."

His voice didn't fluctuate one bit but she could see the sadness and pain in his eyes, try as he might to hide it. "I apprehended the shooter—he wasn't even fighting back. Thankfully, Okita was nimble and quick and he had escaped death by turning his body in that split second and the bullet avoided his heart or the arteries around it. Still, he bled a lot; and it took him out for a month. When he came back, we all advised him to stop the undercover work. He didn't have to be persuaded, he agreed. So I took his load and now he's working as a simple detective."

"I'm so sorry for your friend; that was horrible."

"Thanks; anyway, naturally, Haruka-his girlfriend" he explained at her questioning look "was pretty much terrified; when I found her that day, she still had Souji's blood on her face. But she stuck with him till he got out of the hospital…and then broke up with him."

"Ouch."

"I had never seen him like that before; it devastated him. So, in true idiot fashion, he swore off serious relationships. At least, as he put it, until the right one came along and reached his heart through his bad behaviour and rejections."

She laughed politely, but sincerely; it was good to smile a little, she was close to depressed. Thank god Okita wasn't the person to mope around for long. "He, he fits the bill for that."

"Of course."

"How about you?" she asked then, catching him off guard; for a single moment in time he thought she was referring to his love life and he nearly panicked. Well, for a single moment in time she wasn't sure if she was referring to his love life or not. "Any mortal danger you've been in lately?"

Relieved, he deflated. "Not for a while now."

She seemed shocked at his casualness. "But you have been repeatedly in the past!?"

"…well, not repeatedly."

"Too late; you dug yourself into this whole."

"The greatest danger I had ever been in wasn't even that grand; I was simply stranded in a hide out with some drug dealers and a bunch of guns."

"Stranded!?"

"It's the in-between stage of your handler not knowing if your cover is blown or not so they cut off all communications to make your life easier…"

She seemed appalled. "But can't that lead to your death, too?"

"They do it to prevent it but yeah, if you really are compromised it gets you killed."

"And were you? Compromised?"

"…yes." She gawked. "Well I didn't die."

"You could have, you just said so." She shook her head. "You just keep digging bigger wholes for yourself. Spill it, what happened? How did you get out?"

"That's classified." She pursed her lips. "And we've arrived; can't talk about it on the street," he continued in a smug way.

"You drive very well, didn't even realise when we got here."

"Coming from a professional driver, I take that as a compliment."

The car indeed came to a stop and she was surprised to see her apartment; this street and the ride was so familiar to her, she hadn't realised they were close. She pouted. But wait a minute, he never asked her for an address. "Did you look up my info? How did you know where I lived?"

"I wouldn't spend resources for something like that; I just asked your parents."

"Oh." Right, he had called them. "How do you have their numbers anyway?"

"Your mother gave me her number when I brought you in the hospital."

"Right. Did I ever properly thank you for that? Because you really saved my life. I just can't wrap my head around it still."

"Yes, you thanked me, stop; even if I weren't there you'd still have been well."

She laughed. "Oh my god, Okita was right; you're actually blushing!"

"Tokio…!"

"Okay, I'm sorry; I'm only thanking you anyway" he was out the door "what am I even apologising for?" she said to herself. But instead of going to the suitcase, he came to her, opened the door and offered his hand. "What a gentleman."

He fought the urge to tag on her hand purposefully hard; she seemed to have read his thoughts because she started laughing, holding on to her ribs. Once she was fully standing, he went for her case. "I'll carry it upstairs."

"Thanks! Wanna stay for a cup of coffee or tea or something?"

Oh no; he was about to reject her. "I…shouldn't. I have to go anyway." But why!?

"Not even one cup of coffee for all your trouble?"

"I didn't drive you home for the coffee, don't worry. I don't want compensation."

"That's not why I'm offering…!"

He took this so wrong; why was he always like this? Why couldn't he take the hint? Or maybe…after all he'd said…maybe he didn't want to go into the trouble because, according to him, it was a lost cause. The gears in her head started turning then.

"Anyway, I can't stay; let's just get your stuff upstairs."

"Oh no, don't trouble yourself; leave it in the elevator and I'll just kick it from there to my apartment. Yayoi will be coming in the evening, she'll help put things away." His look was dubious. "I promise, I won't carry anything; I'll wait for her."

"Very well."

Inwardly, he was thankful she suggested this. He didn't know why – he didn't know a lot of things lately, especially when it concerned her and he didn't like it – but there were two conflicting urges inside him: one told him _go spend time with her, idiot; you're missing out on something_. The other screamed in his ear that he shouldn't go up there at all, not even to leave her suitcase. Because if he did, if he went inside her apartment, her personal space, _something_ would happen—something he didn't want to? Or was it something that he feared happening? But what was it that would happen? He didn't know; yet no matter what it was, something restrained him and being an undercover police officer for so many years, he learnt to trust his instincts.

So he fought the one side of him that wanted to spend more time with her and listened to himself and her suggestion; and he did exactly as she'd asked and left her standing in front of the elevator. She was hovering there at the entrance, not knowing how to go on, much like him. "So…thank you again. For this, too."

"Don't mention it."

"Are you sure you don't wanna come up for a coffee? I could even get some doughnuts."

"No. Your bribes have no effect on me," he declined with a crooked smile.

"Ah, damn."

"But thanks for trying."

There it was again, the inward ringing of some bells; _you're walking away from something Hajime_ , it reminded him harshly, _and you're not a coward_. _Better be a coward than an idiot, I say_ , of that much he was certain. So he ignored the conflicting sentiments and smirked. "See you around, delivery guy."

"See you…!"

He was the first one to turn around and leave; somehow, he stroke a very lonely pose as he walked away, tall but solitary. That didn't sit well with her though; and that's when she promised herself: Okita might have been looking for the one who would tirelessly reach out and try and drag him out of his shell but if anyone needed it that looked like it was Saitou. So she'd keep trying, until she succeeded.

Or she realised Saitou really wasn't interested in her, and not relationships in general. But she was sure, he did care. She smiled at herself, as she got into the elevator. She'd go on a date with him, no matter his surprising resistance. He might have been stubborn but she was no better and she always got what she wanted; she had a lucrative delivering business to show for it.

* * *

 **A/N** : At least she's determined, right? She doesn't give up easily that has to be a plus point.

And here is a fun question: what would you do in her place? Would you fight for it or would you go to the next one, who might have been more willing?

Anyway, FAI out~please leave a review on your way out lovelies.


	5. Phone calls, texts and ice cream

**A/N** : One more chapter to go and this puppy is finished! Wish me luck with the writing so it comes sooner rather than later.

As always, dear anon you make me smile. That being said, I hope you all don't hate me by the end.

* * *

Today was a busy day; Saitou had spent the first four hours at work on phone calls and sorting through cases. Clean up, no matter for whom or what case, was always boring. And after he was done with the clean-up, he had to start going through open cases and study them, so he could choose his new assignment. Of course that would take much longer than a shift or two days; it was an unspoken law between the officers, no one went undercover before at least a week that his previous had ended. Either because of family, or romantic life or what not, you needed to rest, get your wits about you. And this assignment might have simply made him to get a job at a flower shop, but others would have him commit crimes in order to blend in with the rest of the criminals.

So the peace of mind that the return to routine at the station brought, helped with refocusing yourself and remembering why you went into so much trouble on the first place.

He sighed; what a boring day. But just as he was about to push off his desk and stand from his chair, his phone rang; it was his personal line. He looked at the caller ID and it read Tokio. He smirked and stood fully up as he answered. "If it isn't the delivery guy; how are you? How's the pain?"

"Hey Saitou;" as always, she sounded happy to talk to him; that always put him in a good mood "the pain is manageable, for the most part."

He snorted. Then he inclined casually against the wall closest to the door; being an undercover agent higher up the rank **and** a detective, gave you the perk of an isolated office. "Remember, I still have a direct line to your doctor."

His ears tickled when he heard her familiar chuckle. "I'm not lying; I said the pain is manageable, not only in one place."

"Fair enough; will you be fine to get back to work though?"

He looked at his watch; it had been an expensive but good purchase because this watch always told the time, the date, pm or am as well as the day; it also had a timer. He was very proud of his watch.

"You're starting again in two days, right?"

"Ah, right; we went to that faster than I expected!" He became suspicious at her words. "So remember our last conversation?"

"Yes…"

He was immediately on the fence; their last conversation was the one they had when he drove her home, two days ago. When the subject of her work had been brought up then, he clearly remembered they almost fought. So what was she going to say about it?

"Well, I asked my dad about anyone he might know to help me with the deliveries, but then I realised, all the people dad knows are old and have back problems; those people can't help." He chuckled despite himself. "So, I thought, who do I know that could have friends or acquaintances of the right age that could help me with the heavy lifting? And my mind went to you. Do you know anyone that wouldn't mind helping me?"

There was silence. "Saitou? Are you still there?"

"Yeah," he verified, shaking his head "I am just amazed you decided to listen to me."

"Oh, hush; I'm not an idiot—and don't you dare make any smart comments about that!"

He was actually about to do just that; and was once more amazed at her, only this once about how well she had come to know him. A disbelieving snort escaped him. "So you need a worker for a month, right?"

"Yeah, about that much; though my financial situation is good enough to keep the person employed if he does good work. I mean obviously, I won't spend someone's time without paying them. And I make much more than I can spend, so…"

She was expanding; how nice for her. Immediately, he started going through people that would be good for this post in his mind; he had a couple of guys who would do it for free in a heartbeat but there was also this guy who wouldn't mind the extra cash. No wait; he'd definitely hit on her, he was out of the question. Then there was this younger guy who could benefit from a little hard work…but then, an idea was born in his mind and somehow it was perfect.

"Saitou? You still here, right?"

"Yeah, I was thinking."

"I didn't mean go find me one right now, it's okay."

"But I did;" he couldn't see her but he preferred to imagine she had that same impressed look on her face that she had when he fixed her suitcase "do you mind if he's not a friend of mine?"

"Not at all; so long as you consider him worthy…I trust your judgement."

Once again, he felt his ego stroked just by those four words. "Then I know just the guy; what's your first stop?"

"Oh like you don't know; you used to work there, remember?"

Of course he remembered; and he knew. He just wanted to tease her and hear that pouty tone of hers. "Then I'll meet you there around eight thirty on Monday;" he smirked "I'll bring the coffee, you bring the doughnuts."

He heard her laugh, even if she did it a little further away from her device and couldn't help but feel the mirth expand to him; she was so contagious. It was a good thing she was in a good mood for the most part.

"I'll bring them, I promise; want them glazed, officer?"

"Actually yes; I prefer the strawberry ones."

"As you wish!"

"Great; but now I have to go, I'm at work. See you on Monday."

He hung up on her before she could say bye back, but she didn't mind…because now they would meet, even if it were for work, with coffee; that counted as a coffee date, right? She felt a wave of energy hit her and she needed to bounce! But she was lying on her couch so that wasn't an option. No matter, she'd call Yayoi and tell her all about it.

Unknown to her, Saitou felt a rush, too! Suddenly the day wasn't so boring and dreary; he attributed to the fact she gave him something interesting to do, gave him new purpose. Even if, he acknowledged, the new purpose wasn't all that interesting on its own. Maybe, it had to do with her giving it to him and it pertained with her getting better. Yes that must have been it.

Because he would never, ever admit to himself, not in a million years, not after all the confusion he experienced when he dropped her off, that maybe, just maybe, it was the sound of her voice that lifted his spirits.

.

Monday morning at half past eight, the Deliver Guy's truck was parked outside the Sakura Kiss. She didn't park out front but not where she usually parked at the back either; she didn't want Sakura to see her yet, knowing she was already there. She wanted the privacy and definitely would prefer her over-the-top-reaction to handle it in the store where it would be more manageable. So she parked where she could not be seen if you just looked outside the back window and waited.

To her surprise, Saitou didn't come with the police car, as she was certain he'd be coming from work at that time this week, but in his own black Mazda. She had burnt it to memory the first time she ever saw it, much like his doughnut preferences two days ago. She watched him park and got herself out of the truck, box of sweets in her hand. He got out after her, but still made the distance before her. She noticed he wasn't holding any coffee…but then the third person of their meeting finally exited the Mazda and he was the one holding the hot beverages in a carton holder.

That wasn't what took her by surprise though, no; it was the identity of the person that left her staring: none other than the drunk, drugged driver that had caused her accident walked her way, looking petulant but not at her. She turned to Saitou for an explanation.

"Good morning Tokio…" he was too pleasant. "You know Higashidani Sanosuke; you talked to him while still in the hospital, right?"

"Right…"

"When you called me the other day, my mind immediately went to a select few but then I thought…why not this one?" "This one" was standing right next to him yet Saitou acted like he wasn't there, even if he nodded towards him. "He could do with a little remorse and simple words were never my taste; let him prove it."

Sano clicked his tongue but said nothing otherwise; she simply looked on. "Since the drugs and the alcohol were a one-time thing, he won't be having any withdrawal problems so he will be fit to do as you ask him. He looks strong so work him to the bone."

She struggled to supress a laugh; Sanosuke did look strong. He had big arms and a good physique. Despite being a rich kid, it seems he mustn't have been too pampered, too as old scars from what could have been fights or other sort of accidents littered whatever was visible of his body. And even in this chill October weather, he only wore a hoodie. His features would have been pleasant to look at if he wasn't wearing a permanent frown.

"Alright; but first, coffee! Can I have my cup, Sanosuke-chan?"

The boy, not yet a man, prickled all over the moment he heard the honorific she used on him; the amused, challenging look Saitou threw in his general direction kept all of the things that flooded Sano's mind at bay. Instead, he shoved the carton holder in her arms. "Don't know which one is yours, so pick it yourself."

"Idiot," Saitou actually slapped him at the back of his head, leaving Tokio to gasp something hilarious back "I drank from the left one, didn't I?"

"The hell am I supposed to do? Keep track of your every move?"

She sipped her coffee unperturbed. "Now, now Sanosuke-chan, we'll be working with flowers;" that only seemed to worsen his mood "if you shout like that, they'll wilt before they even get to their destination."

"Like I care-…"

He looked away from Saitou's strict look, letting the sentence die off. Of course he cared; that's why he was going through with this entire farce. And since his parents had moved mountains to let him escape real justice by throwing a ton of money around, when Saitou came into his hospital room the very day he was getting discharged, they couldn't be bothered to get him out of that situation, too. He had it coming, they both agreed, and allowed this police officer to rope him into – practically – community service. But even if his parents hadn't left him to the mercy of this man, he still would have done something nice for her. He wasn't a complete jerk…but he never thought he would have to be her errand boy for a month.

"Well, Sanosuke-chan, let's get started; this is our first stop of the say and I should show you what we do properly and thoroughly."

"You deliver flowers, how difficult can it be?"

"Don't talk back at her." Saitou merely said as he extracted the box of doughnuts from her hands. He noticed Sano eyeing it with interest but did nothing to offer him any; quite the opposite in fact, he took out one, with plenty strawberry glaze, and started eating.

"It's alright, we'll find our bearings," she commented, apparently nothing ruining her good mood. She too noticed how Sano looked at the box and the resentment towards the officer. "And I don't mind your attitude so long as it doesn't get in the way of work." She shrugged, taking another sip from her coffee. "And I brought enough doughnuts for everyone; Sanosuke-chan can have some."

 _Traitor_ , his glare accused her; but the smile on the boy's face was precious. She scolded Saitou with but a look; how much could he have bullied him on the way here if he had him "broken in" like that already? He seemed to understand her silent admonition and returned the look with a challenge. After all, she was the one who could barely walk because of the boy on his left.

"Seeing I'm a generous man, I'll show you what you're supposed to do."

He wasn't; Sano knew it; Tokio knew it; Saitou knew it. But what Sano didn't know was that Saitou was currently trying to appease Tokio in a way, while also flaunting his strength to him, as an intimidation tactic.

"Right; so, we go and knock on the back door of the shop," they walked to the back door of Sakura Kiss "like this." She knocked twice. "And we wait for the person inside to come open for us."

When the door opened, there was Sakura…who pounced on Tokio in a split second!

"Tokio-chan!"

Sano was almost scared by the sudden motion, but Saitou reacted fastest of all and grabbed the woman before she fell on Tokio and then they both tumbled on the ground. There was no way she could withstand Sakura falling on her like that.

"She's recovering, don't make her worse."

The alarm in the middle aged woman's eyes turned into recognition. "Saitou-san!" She moved to hug him, too but he expertly avoided it, letting go of her at once; if Sano was surprised this person knew Saitou, he didn't show it. "It's good to see you again; how come you're here? Yamamoto-san had said-!"

"I'm here to show the kid how to help Tokio with her shipments; he seems a little slow."

"The fuck, man? I didn't ask you-!"

"Language!" both Saitou and Tokio snapped at the same time; he rolled his eyes.

"Whatever; he's still an asshole."

Tokio sighed. "Sanosuke-chan, please don't swear while we work; the flowers will really wilt." She shook her head. "Anyway, after we've alerted the employee to our presence, we give them the manifest." She produced a paper from her coveralls. "This is the manifest."

"Yeah, I know what a manifest is, I'm not stupid."

"Could have fooled me."

Just as Sano was about to say something nasty to the smirking officer who seemed to love messing with him, Tokio's exasperated glare stopped both. "Then we lead them back to the truck; once they check everything written on the manifest is what they got in their hands, we take the crates from the back into the shop."

"Yes, yes, I got it. Open the damn truck."

"You open it;" Saitou ordered "you'll be the one doing all the heavy lifting from now on."

"…fine."

But when he did, he was speechless; there were so many crates! How was he supposed to know which one was which? "It's the colours Sanosuke-chan," Tokio read his mild panic "depending on the shop, I have them sorted into different coloured crates. Sakura Kiss are the black ones."

"Oh? Only eleven today?" As Sano started counting, Saitou had already finished, incensing the young man. And when he effortlessly jumped on the back, as if he had done it a hundred times, Sano's glare intensified.

"Yes, they had received some yesterday, too-"

"Without Tokio-chan to give us what we need, we had to rely on some pretty irresponsible people; it's so good you're back Tokio-chan! We can finally work in peace again."

"Thank you Sakura-san…Saitou, for the love of—not only two trips!"

He had taken six crates with his signature ease and started heading back to the store; Tokio followed, protesting and scolding as Sano struggled to keep up, sheer amazement at the man's strength. One could see his respect for the antisocial police officer rise just a little bit. Sakura chuckled at the exchange, next to the very much confused by now boy. "Ah, the good old days; I had missed that bickering of theirs."

But the boy could no longer pretend he didn't care. "That guy used to work with her?"

"No, with us; he was our first male florist. Too bad he quit. It wasn't that long ago, too…"

Sano stared hard; why was a police officer working as a florist?

Then he looked up and watched as Tokio was still complaining to him as they exited the shop. He had this expression of total calmness, even if she was talking his ear off, pouting and frowning in succession, saying something about his back or what not. He only had sparing words for her that seemed to do nothing to improve her mood.

"At least there are only five left."

"Five are still one too many!" she protested hotly. "Sanosuke-chan, don't follow his example, okay? You should only take three or four at the same time; they are actually quite heavy!"

"How heavy can they be, if he lifts so many at the same time?"

Oh hoho; finally. Saitou waited for that reaction. Without a second thought, he stopped mid-stride and turned to the boy. "He's right; here, you take them inside."

"Piece of cake," he said confidently and extended his arms to receive them; yet the moment the entirety of the weight was placed upon him, he completely lost his balance and nearly fell over!

"Sanosuke-chan!"

But the crisis was averted; Saitou had never really let go of the damn things and even managed to steady the boy with his foot. Taken down a notch, or maybe more, the boy glared at nothing. "Sanosuke-chan, are you alright? Don't listen to him, I told you; he's just very strong!"

Feeling beaten in the show of manliness, how much more of strength that was supposed to be his forte, he remained silent throughout the rest of the exchange. Sakura bid them goodbye, they told her they'd see her again and the door to the flower shop was closed. "See? That wasn't too hard!" she said in the end, meeting him by the back of the truck, where he waited with his hands crossed. "And that's about all of it, too. The only difference is when the shops are already open; it's common courtesy to enter from the front then. Unless they have too many customers so you go around back, like usual."

"Right."

He watched as Saitou came to stand with them, a cigarette already in his mouth, a match being lit. "You got all that, kid?"

"It ain't that hard anyway!"

Per usual, he talked with the cigarette in his mouth and she couldn't help but think he looked so sexy. And then he lit the damn thing and sucked in the smoke, uh, what did she do to deserve this?

"Just checking."

Tokio smiled kindly. "Never mind his provocations, you'll do fine."

"You know, he nearly ran you to the ground; don't be so nice with him."

Three things happened then: Sano blushed; Sano looked away; Tokio looked at Saitou desperate. _Do you have to do that_ , her eyes pleaded for better treatment? The officer shrugged casually. She sighed. She hadn't expected to deal with this so fast, but she might as well.

"For what is worth, he didn't want to hurt me; and he was actually in a much worse shape than I, so there's no need to hold a grudge. Unless, Sanosuke-chan has the idea of drinking and driving again."

"No, never; and I already apologised!"

But then she realised; something seemed off about his behaviour; she thought he was eighteen but she'd only seen him that night and then the hospital. Now they exchanged words and she could see him up close, she realised she must have been wrong. "How old are you Sanosuke-chan?"

"…stop calling me Sanosuke-chan; Sano is fine."

"…how old are you Sano-chan?"

He felt his eye twitch. "I'm fifteen." Her mouth hang. "I'm tall, okay?"

"This is…this is illegal! He's underage Saitou! How will I pay the-?"

"He's doing it for free; aren't you, Rooster head?"

Sano looked away ashamed. "…yes; I don't want to get paid. You wouldn't have to employ me if I hadn't run into you anyway."

"Saitou, did you guilt trip this young man into this?"

"…I don't know what you're talking about." Her look of judgement didn't abate. "I really don't." He took a final drag from his smoke then, threw it on the ground and stomped. "Anyway, I gotta go to work; I'll see you around. And you, Rooster head," Sano turned his eyes to him "if you do anything you shouldn't, I'll know. So behave."

"Yes, you've told me."

He never turned around; he simply waved as he walked away, going to his car. Tokio sighed.

"I don't know why he would work at that flower shop, but your boyfriend is crazy, lady!"

She looked at him taken aback. "My boyfriend? Who?" Sano nodded to the car leaving. "Saitou!? Huh! No… _I wish_ …" She thought she said it quietly enough but the boy caught it; with wide eyes he turned his head to her, looking down at her. She felt self-conscious. "What?"

"You _wish_? You mean to tell me you're not dating because **he** is playing hard to get? _Why_? Have you looked at yourself? And you're so nice; he's so…so…him!"

She snorted her laughter – and despair – away. "He can be very kind." He absolutely did not believe her. "I didn't say nice; said kind. There's difference."

"Maybe I was right calling you crazy."

"Come on, Sano," she urged "get in the truck; we're leaving."

She was already climbing in; he imitated her. "Your boyfriend left before us, how rude."

"Sano-chan! Don't call him my boyfriend…you're making me depressed."

"…you're hopeless."

.

.

Saitou was a stubborn man; it had been half a week since then, but he made no effort to contact her on his own but she had called three times and sent five texts! She was starting to get desperate, lose confidence also. Could it be she was so unremarkable to him? Was he too used in the security of his life? It wasn't like he ignored her, he always answered her calls or replied to her texts, no more than ten minutes later. But he never made the move himself. Was she just annoying to him, someone he put up with?

Fine, she'd switch tactics, see if he'd call her then.

She took the cell phone in her hands and wrote:

 _Can you give me Okita's number pretty please?_

She looked at it for a second; no excessive question marks, no nothing. It was a simple, normal text. See if that would grab his attention. With a glint in her eye that Yayoi had never seen before, she pressed "send"; her friend watched her slightly scared, folded on her couch, leaning away from the desperate woman.

"You know Tokio, when I said I think I'd like this Okita person, I didn't mean you should set me up with him immediately."

"Oh hush; I'm killing two birds with one stone."

"You're using me to advance your own love life, how uncouth."

"But he won't call me!"

Yayoi raised her hands in astonishment. "You're so pathetic with this man; what's up with you? I've never seen you act like this before."

"Shut up, I'm not pathetic."

"Oh yes you are; what's so special about him anyway?"

"…I don't know. He just is; but he won't get it."

Yayoi pat her friend's head, as if Tokio was a dog. "There, there; maybe if we recorded this conversation and then sent it to him-"

But Yayoi's smartass comment died on her lips as Tokio's phone rang. They both looked down to see the caller and…it really was Saito! "Wow, it worked," Yayoi commented impressed.

Tokio shushed her and rushed to answer the phone. She cleared her throat. "Hello Saitou!"

 _Put it on speaker_ , Yayoi mouthed excited; she wanted to hear his voice so badly! She had been informed by Tokio she was this close to hear him when she was at the hospital but he decided against answering her phone.

"Why do you want Okita's number?"

Straight to the point, no beating around the bush; once more, Yayoi seemed impressed, giving her friend a thumb's up.

"Well, you see, I was thinking of what you told me about him the other day…do you know why we were at bar Seven that day it caught on fire?"

"No."

 _He's being really curt_ , Yayoi mouthed again, a devious smile forming. _He could be jealous_ , and gave her another thumbs up.

"Then you must know, we were out to drink because my friend Yayoi had just broken up with her boyfriend. She was heartbroken and all, very sad. That was one of the reasons I asked you to join us, cheer her up a bit."

"I don't get how this is relevant."

Yayoi tried not to laugh; did he really not? _Oh god, he really is thick_. Tokio agreed with her friend's silent statement by slapping her forehead and rubbing her eyes.

"Because my friend Yayoi is single now; and it's been some good time from her previous relationship so if she and Okita meet, they could, I don't know, hit it off?"

"You wanna set up Souji with your friend?"

His tone had changed completely; from defensive, maybe a bit testy, it became incredulous.

 _Finally_ , both women's looks and smiles said. "Yes Saitou that's exactly what I want, if you don't mind. Yayoi has this mysterious way of taming playboys, I think they'll get along fine."

He snorted, good humour finally returning to him. "Has no one ever told you not to get involved in your friends' love lives delivery guy?"

"Pff, that's how we became friends, Yayoi and I; we've been involved in each other's love lives since we were sixteen."

"If it works for you…" She could see him shrug in her mind's eye and she smiled to no one in particular. "I'll ask him and call you."

"Okay!"

She ended the call; expectant, she turned to Yayoi with the giddiest smile ever. "He has a sexy voice, I'll give you that much. But I didn't like how he was poking fun at you."

"That's just how he is."

"You're so in love, it's disgusting."

"I'm not!"

"Yeah sure…"

In record time, Saitou called back, interrupting Yayoi's eye-rolling. "Okay. He's fast."

"They must be together. Wait, I'll answer on speaker again." She signalled shush and answered the call. "Hey Saitou! So what did Okita say?"

"He said no."

Both women looked at each other dumbfounded. "What? Really?"

"I asked him, he said no; hear for yourself." They heard him shout, obviously away from the phone not to deafen them: "Souji, come tell Tokio I asked you to give her your number and you said no!"

" ** _What?_** "

A new male voice was heard from the background that Tokio instantly recognised as the upbeat Okita.

"Saitou you bastard! You never told me it was Tokio-chan who was asking for it!" The voice kept approaching until sounds of struggle were heard and someone hit someone else.

"Don't fight guys…" a third male voice was heard; was that Tomoda?

"Well put it on speaker then!" apparently Souji was the loser of the fight; surprisingly, Saitou complied. "Tokio-chaaaaan! Saitou never told me it was you who wanted my number; if it's you, you can have it. I mean, of course you'd want to go out on a date with me, who wou-ow! Saitou!"

"It's for her friend you idiot; the one who was with her at the bar."

"Oh." A small pause; the two women struggled not to laugh out loud. "I don't remember her at all; is she good looking?"

"Okita-san!" both Tokio and Tomoda – from the background – exclaimed scandalised and that's when Tokio was certain the third man was indeed Tomoda. She could swear she heard Saitou smack Okita at the back of his head again, too.

"What? If she's cute, I don't mind."

"She's cute, alright? Very cute." Tokio said as if accusing him.

"Hmm…Is she cuter than you?"

She blushed so much, she was about to burst! Just as she was about to say yes, too nodding fiercely, Yayoi slapped her annoyed, mouthing "I'm not you idiot, you're very cute, too". So she opted to say "I, I don't know, I can't answer that."

" _I_ can; she isn't." Saitou stepped in, causing her to blush even more. "She was more on the sexy side. Your type, no doubt."

This once laughing was heard, but it was from Okita, who couldn't for the life of him stop his hysterics. "Oh my god, you're such an asshole," he said through laughs "don't tell her, her friend is sexier in her face."

"But she's cuter; they have different selling points."

"Saitou-san!" Tomoda was heard scandalised from the background again.

Tokio couldn't take it anymore, listening to all these things being said, Okita laughing like a maniac and her own friend dying for not being able to laugh as she wanted. "We are not cattle!" at least Tomoda understood.

"I meant you attract different sort of people because of the way you look. She attracts more of his type; you attract-…"

Oh no; he walked right into his own trap. Okita looked at him in a way that begged, just begged him to go on. _What sort of type of men does Tokio attract, Saitou?_ Spoke his eyes, daring him to finish that sentence. Because Okita knew how it would end: Tokio attracted more of _his_ type, Saitou's: the taciturn asshole with a soft spot for kind and caring women. And he just wanted to hear him admit she was his type. Since he wouldn't admit he liked her...

But he didn't admit this either; he remained silent. At first he thought to deflect with something like "Tomoda's type" but the idea he was indirectly telling her she'd be good with Tomoda didn't sit well with him. Not because Tomoda didn't deserve to be happy or there was something wrong with him, but…the idea of Tokio with another man, any man, felt too foreign to him.

"You attract more idiots," Okita spared his friend the embarrassment of the building silence "because if they aren't like me, they are idiots. But don't worry Tokio-chan, I think you're very cu—ow! Saitou! Stop hitting me."

"Then stop hitting on her."

"What are you, her father?"

But now he deflected expertly. "She called you for her friend, didn't she; what if her friend could hear you?"

Yayoi nearly died then and there; the mere struggle not to be heard laughing her ass off was too much.

"Nothing different; the truth is the truth. And you know what, Tokio-chan is very sexy, too, don't make it sound like she has no sex-appeal!" Now he must have dodged the hit as they heard air being cut. "You hear me Tokio-chan? You are very sexy!"

A full blown fist fight must have been going on, on the other end, because Okita's voice could be heard in different volumes, meaning he was walking around, no doubt trying to avoid Saitou's hits. Also, Tomoda was heard approaching finally, whining about them fighting and asking them to stop. Tokio followed his example, red as a tomato.

"P-please stop…"

Another hit, this one landed. "This is why I didn't want this to happen, you're insufferable;" she heard Saitou snap his friend and sigh "ignore the idiot. Have a nice night."

He hung up; the sounds stopped altogether. But that surreal feeling remained, wandering the air all around her. Tokio looked up at her friend, looking mortified. Yayoi was in a too good mood though, having taken no offence from anything that transpired, laughing silently and then very loudly at this whole exchange.

"Stop laughing!"

"I…" she was wheezing "I can't; forget what I said, Saitou sounds delightful!"

Tokio pouted. "That's only because he called you sexy."

"Aw, is little Tokio jealous?" When she indeed crossed her arms and looked away, Yayoi's laughter died down. She scooted over to her friend and started pinching her cheeks. "But wasn't he the one literally hitting his friend for flirting with you? Isn't that a good thing? It meant he was jealous, too right?"

Tokio blushed, but didn't get her hopes up too high. "…it could mean a number of things; you can never be sure when that dense man is involved."

"Okay I'll give you that much. But I'll also tell you this: maybe he is jealous and doesn't realise it himself. Didn't you say he was undercover at the flower shop? So he had to act a little distant to not get you involved. Whether that worked or not, maybe he sort of…developed the habit of keeping you at arm's length. Maybe he doesn't realise he is interested in you. Wasn't he the one who came all by himself at the accident sight and stayed there all five hours till you woke up? He even drove you home! You think he'd do any of those things if he hadn't cared?"

She allowed herself to smile. "But…how do I tell?"

Yayoi put a hand on her shoulder. "Only through patience; men like him don't like to be rushed, I can tell. Give him some time but not too much."

"Alright." Her friend made sense; she should have done this sooner. "I'll do as you say this once." Yayoi smirked. "Just this once; you're still the hopeless case of falling in love with playboys."

She stuck her tongue out at Tokio who pursed her lips. The two women laughed and went back to whatever they were talking about before Saitou was brought up.

.

.

Her phone rang and she rushed to answer it; could it finally be Saitou calling her first? "Hello?" But her tone was guarded; she didn't know this number. Who was it?

"Hello; this is Tomoda, Saitou's co-worker."

"Oh hi Tomoda! How are you?"

He felt relieved she sounded happy to hear him; the last thing he wanted was to inconvenience her. "I'm great! I'm calling you from my phone because Okita couldn't, he's on duty with Saitou. He wants you two to meet and have a talk."

"Really?"

"Yeah; it's about Saitou. Didn't tell me all that much, didn't have the time. He invited me, too but if you don't mind, I think I'll pass."

"What, why? No, you should come, Tomoda-san!"

"But Okita-san knows Saitou-san longer than I and maybe I'll get in the way-."

"Nonsense; you should come. In fact I insist. When are you both available?"

"Ah, yes; sadly, we have conflicting schedules and the earliest convenient time for us is about ten."

"You mean pm right? I don't mind; let's meet then. When and where?"

"How about…tomorrow at the Parfait café?"

"I know that place, okay; let's. I'll be waiting for you."

He chuckled. "We're both gentlemen and it would hurt us if you were the one waiting; better come a little later, let us wait for you."

She laughed. "Ten at Parfait; bye Tomoda."

.

Okita caught her with the edge of his eyes first and stood up from his chair, exuberant. "Tokio-chan!"

Tomoda followed his example and respectfully stood; then bowed. "Tokio-san."

"Hello boys!" Her signature smile was there, waving as she came and sat between them, the only unoccupied chair. "How have you been, it's been a long time; since the hospital, in fact, that I'm seeing you in person."

"Let's not talk about sad things, Tokio-chan! Let's talk about you; and your love life!"

Even as she blushed, a small cloud seemed to overshadow her, eyes cast downwards. "But that's also sad, Okita-san."

"Call me Sou-chan," he said dismissively "it would drive Saitou crazy if he ever heard it."

"That's not nice, Okita-san," Tomoda scolded despite his obvious amusement.

"Yes but it's true; and maybe it's about time we got down and dirty in this. Tokio-chan, your love life isn't sad. Now I want you to be very honest with me-oh." The waitress came. She had taken their orders before but they had told her to not prepare anything till the third person arrived; then she'd take her order, too and get them done altogether. "Hello again!"

The waitress flashed a smile all grace and cuteness to him. "Hello; may I take your order please?"

"I'd like a green tea with no sugar but bring me honey and lemon."

"Of course; anything else?"

"Um…an ice cream!"

"But it's getting cold Tokio-chan!" Okita interjected. "If you get sick, Saitou will kill me. Only now you're walking properly again."

"I'll be fine; an ice cream please, your special."

"As you wish; your orders will come as you requested," she said to the two men "I'll be right back."

"So, I was saying, I want you to be honest with me Tokio-chan when I'm asking you this and remember no one here will judge you so tell us:" oh no; it was coming "are you interested in Saitou?"

Oh god, they knew; she hid her face in her hands, making noises out of embarrassment. "I'm so obvious…!"

"I knew it; damn it I knew it! What did I tell you, Tomoda?"

Tomoda kept looking between the two people, deep in thought. "You were right."

"And I told that idiot, too, but he won't believe me!"

Tokio's head snapped at him so fast, it cracked! "You _told_ him!?"

"Yeah; but he won't believe me."

She got over her shyness fast and now turned towards exasperation. If his friend was telling him she liked him, too then "Why? Why won't he get the hint? I've called him a thousand times, asked him out even more; what else am I supposed to do?"

"Outright tell him, I suppose…but I don't know how he'd react then. He likes to think he's the one who makes the first move."

"That ship has sailed, Okita-san," Tomoda commented.

"I know, I said he likes to think, it never happens, ever." Okita looked Tokio straight in the eyes. "All the times he's ever dated, it was the woman that made the first move."

Tokio looked at him as if he was kidding her. "…and how many times is that?"

Okita swallowed then. "Look, you have to understand Saitou…he's nothing like me. I-"

The waitress returned with everyone's orders and spared a smile for Okita. He smiled back.

Once she was gone again, Okita continued. "I go on a date at least once a week and usually the second or third one is with a different woman. Though I won't go into detail why that happens with me, I'll tell you that Saitou is the exact opposite. If I'm a womaniser, he's…he's the most tame, monogamous creature ever. He's only had two girlfriends his entire life; one from sixteen to twenty – when they broke up mutually because she had to move to Hokkaido and neither was willing to compromise – and then from twenty one to twenty six and _she_ was the one who broke up with _him_."

Tokio looked surprised. "Those are…some long relationships." Four and five years respectively, a lot of time. He's clearly not afraid of commitment, that's good.

Tomoda and Okita nodded sagely at the same time. "Saitou is very traditional in a good sense; if he's with you, he's with you. Other women don't exist…but till he gets to be with you, well, all women don't exist. There's only work." She deflated, just as she had gathered some hope. "I'm not saying he won't notice you, but his mind wouldn't go to romance, not on his own. You'll have to help him a little."

As if she didn't know. "Should I just confess then?"

Okita was adamant in his refusal. "No, no; don't confess, he won't like it."

"Maybe she should; Yaso had!" Tomoda spoke his two cents.

"We don't talk about Yaso, Tomoda. What did we say? Haruka and Yaso are the two names we don't mention in front of other people."

Haruka…Tokio knew that name. Why? She tried to recall. Ah, she did! It was-…she stopped. She looked down guiltily then and averted her eyes. Both men caught wind of her odd behaviour.

"What?" Okita asked suspicious. "What is it?"

"Nothing just…I'm really sorry, I didn't know it was that sensitive, but…I know about Haruka." Both men were taken aback and she knew she had to explain. "When Saitou drove me home from the hospital, I asked him about stuff and one thing led to another and he—well, I made him share that story. I'm sorry Okita-san. I'm sorry for what you had to go through and that I knew even if you didn't want me to…"

"Okay, first of all," he begun a little antagonistic and Tokio cringed "now you **must** call me Sou-chan, or else I'll be very mad!" Oh okay; that was better than what she expected. "Secondly…he told you about Haruka huh? Then go ahead," he waved at Tomoda "tell her all about Yaso; if he spilled mine, it's okay if I spill his."

"Um, Oki—err, Sou-chan," she corrected herself "I don't think that's appropriate."

"No, it's a fair trade. You know what Tomoda, I'll say it. So you see Tokio-chan, our dense friend was dating this wonderful young woman Yaso. She was smart and funny and had an air about her, you know? Unabashed, straightforward. She saw Saitou at a formal event – she was a police officer's daughter – and she liked him; she liked the uniform, she liked he was tall…so she started flirting with him." Okita snorted with laughter. "He didn't get it _at all_ ; and she was actually offended he didn't ask her out at the end of the evening. So I see her and I tell her, she'll have to try harder. She was hell-bent on him, so she took my advice but after a couple of weeks, he still wouldn't get it. So what does she do? She goes to him once his shift has ended and tells him she wants to go out on a date with him in front of half the station."

All listeners chuckled at that. "I was new then so I was so impressed by my sempai," Tomoda added. "I had never seen a woman go after a man like that before."

"Yeah, indeed; she was fierce. He actually declined that day, saying he was too tired, so she asked him when it would be convenient for him and sort of roped him into it. They were officially a couple after a month."

"Why a month?"

"Saitou kept postponing and then he'd say after only one date how much can you really know a person and it took him forever to make an actual move, so."

"Saitou-sempai is really cool," Tomoda commented "he is very proper and has women going after him with such zeal and yet never oversteps his boundaries…unlike some."

"Oh shut up." Okita snubbed. "Anyway, they start dating, all is well, time passes…around the third year though, I started seeing problems. Yaso, she was selfish; it was all about her. She was always like this but as their relationship became more serious she'd say Saitou didn't have time for her, Saitou forgot her birthday, he missed her father's grand dinner, he put work first…always complaining.

She was in love with him, I won't say otherwise; but it was first her and then him. But Saitou, he was the opposite, he always put her first; so she took advantage of it. Despite that, he still joined the undercover force of course, at twenty four, before she became too unbearable. Or maybe, she became unbearable because he entered there."

Tomoda explained: "You see, when you're undercover, you can be on one assignment for months on end. You can't see your girlfriend all that time, only hear her voice from the phone. The only one you're allowed to meet is your handler." She nodded she understood, slowly eating her ice cream. "Now, normally you aren't allowed to tell people who that is but we all knew Yaso and we all knew Saitou was serious about her, so we would tell her who his handler was every time."

Okita took over then again. "And what would she do? Complain to him! Give him letters or notes to pass him that were so…" He shook his head. "I don't know, I don't know how to call them. Entitled; awful? Anyway, they weren't nice. Well, some were, most weren't. But the crazy thing is, Saitou still wanted to marry her. He'd been thinking about it since they had their fourth year anniversary. He was making plans, you know: take a leave and then come back to active duty in a couple of months. He even asked me to go look at rings with him, said I had more experience with what women liked in stuff like that."

Okita snorted. "I advised him against the marriage, but in typical Saitou fashion, he disregarded any opinion that wasn't his; because he's always right, obviously." Now where had she heard that before? "So we go look at rings. But I tell him not to buy yet because we might see something better when the time really comes and all, and he agrees, not knowing I only said that because-…because Yaso was planning to leave him. I heard her talk about it with her mother. She had invited me over for some coffee – she was so good at playing the perfect hostess – and to ask me about Saitou and just as I was about to knock on the door, I heard her say it. She was speaking so loudly, she was very angry. Kept saying she didn't know how her mother pulled it off with her father and how it was so nerve wracking and blah blah blah…

I won't lie to you, I wished she'd do it right then and there and tell me to take her things out of his apartment and drive her back to her mother's till she could find her own place. But she didn't; she opened the door and greeted me like nothing had happened. I purposefully knocked well after she had hung up.

Long story short, I prevented him from buying the ring and a month later Yaso breaks up with him." She looked away, sad. "He was upset; he hadn't realised she was so serious about _having it up to here_ , as she would usually say, with his work and his neglect. He wasn't neglecting her though; he talked to her any chance he got. It was just his job that was difficult. And truth be told, he did miss a lot of things. But he always made up for it…yet she didn't care. And the final time he couldn't be there for a celebration, she finally had enough."

"That's…so depressing."

"It is; he's nearing thirty now and still hasn't dated anyone else. And, much like with you, not because women are indifferent. He is."

"Because he was hurt," she said in the end.

"And because he thought he knew what a woman wanted once and instead of getting married, he became single." Tomoda added.

"And two years ago, one of the few people that made him feel like he didn't have all the answers died, and he took on the responsibility of filling his shoes, even if no one asked him to."

"You mean your mentor, Kondo-san, yes?"

Okita looked at her impressed. "He told you about that, too?" She nodded modestly. "Then maybe our work is much easier than I thought." At their questioning looks, he smiled. "Because he never told even Yaso about it. At least, he never called her to talk about it." He explained, "They broke up, but it wasn't like there weren't any remaining feelings, she wasn't a monster. And when Kondo-sempai was killed it was immediately known; don't forget, Yaso's father was a police officer. It reached her ears fast. It hadn't been three months that they had broken up; the year turned, Saitou had his birthday and a month later, our mentor dies."

"Oh my god…"

"Yaso actually didn't like being alone, without him, without knowing he'd be there for her if she needed anything. So she reached out to him before the week was over, called him to say she was sorry. He thanked her and then politely told her not to call him again." He smirked. "I was so proud of him; he turned her down. The vulture tried to get to him when he was feeling vulnerable, but he saw; he realised. He knew she was only looking out for herself. See, they gave him a leave from undercover duty when Kondo-sempai died because they figured he'd be too distracted to work, which Yaso also knew. So she figured maybe, just maybe, now that he was vulnerable she could have her way and make him quit undercover and worship her as she thought she deserved."

"She really was selfish," Tomoda muttered.

"She was; we were on to her though." He smirked. "Anyway, he never told anyone about it, not on his own. That's why I was shocked he told _you_."

"I pressed him…"

But had she, really? She kept saying she made him tell her but the truth was...she never did. He told her on his own after only being asked once.

"Yeah, because Saitou gives in so easily…! That man could say no to Benkei; he _wanted_ to share it with you."

Okita's assurance made her smile. But then she looked thoughtful. "Why are we having this conversation Ok-...Sou-chan?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why are you helping me?"

He seemed disbelieving. "Isn't it obvious?" She shook her head. "...he's my friend; I want to see him happy again."

"And you think I can make him happy?"

Tomoda gave a warm smile. "Tokio-san, if I may, even I can see...you've already made him happier than he was. Ever since their mentor passed, he hasn't been the same; it was so close with Yaso leaving him, too but I could see that man's death took a different toll on him. You made him smile genuinely again. That's why Okita-san likes you so much. So imagine if you were actually together."

She felt elated by their words. It was nice to know his friends liked her, especially when Okita didn't like Yaso, who Saitou wanted to actually marry. That was wild. Who would have thought he'd want to marry at twenty five? She took a deep breath.

"So what should I do?"

"…keep pestering him. He hasn't said anything to me about it which means he doesn't mind yet at the same time he doesn't want me to make fun of him for not minding it so you're on a good track. It feels like he had a little secret. But please be more intense because soon enough he will finally decide on a new assignment and I don't know how long he'll be on it."

But no matter how intense she was, he never came around, even after all her invitations; no calls, no visits, nothing—not even a text. _She_ was the one going through withdrawal, not Sano, even if she did talk to him, but always making the first move. After all she hadn't seen him in person for a week! Okita had advised it, warned her about it, but she still felt her ego bruised.

Like now that she called him on her own again, even if she was only on a ten minute break. "Hello Saitou; how are you?"

.

Sitting at his desk at work, he sorted through papers when his personal line rang. He wasn't even surprised to see her name show up anymore; in fact he had gotten used to it. Dared he say even expect it? "Tokio; I'm well, all things considered."

"What things?"

She sounded concerned; damn, he didn't mean to make her worry. "Never mind, it's unimportant; how about you? How is the kid treating you lately? Want me to beat some sense into him?"

He sounded like he had his cigarette in his mouth and she felt she wanted to see him all the more. But she hated how he wouldn't share anything about himself.

"No, don't abuse Sano-chan! And we get along so well," she said delighted anyway, pushing all thoughts aside "I found how to press the right buttons and he's the best worker. He's obviously not as strong as you, but you wouldn't believe the amount of work he can withstand! Even now, he's hauling crates! He was a good choice, Saitou; thank you."

He snorted. "Don't thank me; I did it to teach him a lesson, too." That kid should learn not to steal his father's car and drive it, especially when he couldn't even get a license because of his age. Also, he should learn not to wreck Tokio's car and hurt her in the process, too.

"No matter why, still, thank you." She giggled. "Despite the new, colourful vocabulary he's been teaching me, it was a great idea in the end."

He smirked. "Tell that kid not to swear too much or else; and I never have _bad_ ideas."

"Oh hush you; that can't be true."

"You'd be surprised."

She blushed, taking a deep breath to give herself courage because this was the perfect chance. "Well, you still haven't had the idea to ask me out for a drink so…"

"I'm busy you know; I'm still looking for a good assignment."

Why? Why did he sound so conversational and unaffected? How else could she say it that'd he take it as flirting damn it? "So am I, but I can steal away an hour or two."

He put his pen down then, raised his hand from the paper and took the cell phone in it, removing the device from his shoulder, where he kept it pressed. A smirk graced his lips. "Are you complaining Tokio?"

She didn't know what to say then. She was but she didn't want to admit it! Especially after all the info she got on Yaso. "No…"

"It sounded like it though," he teased.

She pouted. "Well, just so you kn-"

"Tokio, we have a request for an urgent delivery!" Sano's voice was heard from somewhere deep inside, but it reached Saitou clearly. "Hang up the phone and come look at the details!"

She felt irritable. "I'll hang up when I want to hang up don't pester me! The request can wait for a second; I'm on a break now anyway!"

He heard the boy click his tongue, mighty amused by their exchange. "Who the hell are you talking to that can't be interrupted? Don't tell me it's that boyfriend of yours!"

She saw red and black because what did he just say!? She was so angry she wanted to smack him, but so embarrassed, she nearly fainted!

"SANO-CHAN WE TALKED ABOUT THIS!" she bellowed. "Don't—Ugh, I'm so sorry; I'll talk to you at another time. Bye bye, I'll call you soon."

Saitou though made no move to end the call. He just remained there, looking at it with a strange feeling of numbness, listening to the remainder of their fight before she hung up:

"Are you an idiot!?"

"What, did I do something wrong? I only said it like it-"

"I'll kill you!"

And that's when the voices died out, the background noise of everyday life dying with them. A slight buzz stubbornly clang to his ears though, making him feel he was watching static.

Did he hear Sano say boyfriend? Was she…attached?

But that made no sense. A woman with the ethic she has so far displayed who had a boyfriend would never be so insistent to take some other man out.

But then again, he himself had said her interest in him wasn't romantic…so he figured this only solidified it. She was only complaining because he did act like a friend, being there for her when she needed it, and she wanted to show him she cared. He wouldn't let her because of work, so she pouted. But she wasn't interested in him…she was attached to some other man that Sano actually knew. So whoever he was, he had been around. It could be serious...

He didn't know why, but he felt an overwhelming sense of loss, as something inside him constricted. What was it? It felt familiar, he was sure he had felt it before, so he must be able to recognise it. But for the life of him, he couldn't remember. Still, it wasn't a nice feeling and even though something inside him again warned him this was important he simply couldn't pin point what it was.

All he knew was that it fucking stung.

Suddenly, he had a moment of clarity. He knew exactly what assignment he should take next. He took one of the files out of the bunch, went to his door and walked down to Hijikata's office to let him know of his plans. There was no way the man'd say no, so he'd better start preparing. This was going to be a long and difficult case.

* * *

 **A/N** : I am not nice, I know; I'm leaving you at a bad place. But...next chapter, final chapter, is coming. So, to use the words of a famous lion, be prepared~~~

FAI out; leave a review on your way out lovelies!


	6. Conversations and realisations

**A/N** : Now I want you to know I didn't lie! This chapter simply turned into a monster so it will be cut in half. Final chapter part 1 so to speak. Don't be too mad by the way this one will end because the next one will be coming tomorrow.

Thank you wonderful people who reviewed and anon, you are so lovely! But I wouldn't dare not giving them the ending they deserve, don't worry.

* * *

It was late at night; she had been resting at her apartment, alone on the couch, for about three hours. She was watching the second movie of the night, _needing_ something to keep her mind distracted from the last couple of days. After all, these were the first instances of Saitou ignoring her. After that phone call when she nearly fainted at Sano's shenanigans, she called him once when her shift finally ended.

But he didn't answer.

It was the first time he ever did that so naturally she was troubled. Okay, so maybe he was busy, too, he was a busy man her rational mind told her. Even if he always answered, there was bound to be one time when he couldn't pick up. He had been so devoted before, it allowed him one little slip up. So she went to sleep feeling pacified and decided it would all be cleared when she called him the next day and he answered.

Only once again, he didn't. Saitou didn't answer her call for the second time in a row.

That's when she knew something must have happened, or something went wrong. He would never just brush her aside, she knew that. So she anxiously sent a text message; it could be his life got so hectic in these two days that he couldn't even find the time to talk, but a text was no big problem. And he always got back to her within ten, fifteen minutes tops.

But there was no text back.

She started getting jumpy now; what was going on? Was this…was this his way of telling her to give up? Did Okita told him they had their talk and after finding out she truly was in love with him he tried to cut her off because he wasn't feeling the same way? Could that be it? Was he…finally rejecting her?

But her mind ran in too many circles after that and she knew a distraction was needed; thus the movies. So, at around midnight, she was still up, watching a zombie movie in an effort to take the edge of with walking corpses. But when her phone rang, exactly at 12:09, she dived for the device! She nearly dropped it, struggling to stop the picture and answer at the same time while she had no time to see who was calling.

She slid to answer, but before she had time even to speak her name, she heard a most familiar voice, deploying a most uncharacteristic tone:

"What did you do, Tokio-chan?"

Okita sounded…upset, almost angry. She was shocked and on full alert at the same time. "What do you mean, Sou-chan? What do you mean what did I do?"

"Don't Sou-chan me! And don't play dumb, I'm talking about Saitou; what did you do to him?"

"Wh-I did nothing! How can you say that?"

"Fine, what did you say? What. Did. you tell him?"

She had never heard him so absolute before; in fact, she had never heard his voice coloured by anything other than tease and a sense of joy in the little things. The simple he clipped his sentences made it all the more unsettling now. What happened? Did Saitou say something to him? Was she the one he talked about? But what did she do—she had no clue? Of course, Okita being upset meant that something had indeed gone wrong and it wasn't simply her imagination.

But if Okita didn't know, too…did Saitou do something that scared his friend?

"I said nothing, _nothing_ out of the ordinary; nothing at all. Last time we spoke I had to hang up because Sano pestered me about an urgent order but other than that, I said nothing that could be misinterpreted." There was silence from the other end. "I swear, nothing; nothing at all."

"…then what triggered him?"

He sounded convinced; she could understand he believed her because he was sharing his thoughts with her, something she would bet her right arm he would never do if he kept thinking she was the one responsible.

But his words didn't ring well. "Triggered him?" They sounded ominous.

"Yes, he…" He both sighed and hesitated; that couldn't be good. "He abruptly decided on his next assignment yesterday, although he had said he would wait until you got well enough not to need Sano helping anymore to make his final decision." He had said that? "Besides, he decided yesterday and today he's already gone? Strange. Not to mention, you still need him; and Saitou isn't the type of man to go back on his word."

"Well, he didn't promise me anything; I mean, this is the first I hear of it, so…"

He clicked his tongue impatiently. "If he said it once, he gave his word. And he'd never tell _you_ that, he wouldn't want to make you think you owe him."

But if that was justified…then Okita was right, something pushed him into rushing his decision. "Maybe something at the precinct?"

"No, nothing here; I asked Tomoda and he said all was well." She could sense he reverted into the back of his mind but his silence still made her nervous. "Are you sure you didn't say anything to him?"

"Yeah. But why are you so worried he sped things up? I mean, he could have simply come across an interesting case…"

"Ah, you see that's my problem; this isn't a new case. This is a troublesome, annoying case that almost all undercover operatives in our station don't touch. In fact they don't dare go near. But not because they'd have to learn something new or they'd feel emasculated by a mandatory green apron with pink flowers…but because it's deep cover, thus very dangerous."

Her heart stopped the moment she heard the word "deep".

"One operative was killed three months ago and two more were pulled because we suspected their cover was blown. Sending them there isn't the problem you see, keeping them active and hidden is. And Saitou had avoided this case half a year ago on purpose; but now he chooses it on his own? That's fishy."

Her heart was working overtime now, making up for lost time. "Besides, last time he did something this self-destructive had been when Kondo-san died; he was given a leave, like I said, but he never took it. In fact, he jumped right into a crazy assignment with some drug dealers that took him four months."

Drug dealers…? "Was this the same assignment he got stranded!?"

"Yeah" Okita answered shocked "how the hell—…did he tell you about that, too?"

"Only that he was stranded; rest was classified, he'd said."

She heard him sigh once more and she couldn't help but think how much this didn't suit him, worrying like this, sighing heavily. "Are you sure you didn't say something? Not even something that you didn't think it was bad, or didn't even mean it like that, but he could misinterpret?"

"No, really…"

"Ah shit."

Silence fell but none made a move to end the call; they simply breathed in and out, device close to them. She felt so depressed; she was so worried. What possessed him to leave like this? Okita even called it self-destructive! She felt like crying.

But then she remembered. "Sou-chan…can I also tell you something?"

He braced himself. "…go ahead."

"He stopped answering my calls; and my texts." She took a deep breath. "Do you think it's because he's undercover now?"

There was silence from his end again and she couldn't keep a civil tongue in her head, encourage herself about what she would hear. "Yes;" he said in the end, but there was something she couldn't put her finger on that she didn't like about his tone. "When he's on assignments, he never contacts anyone other than his handler. Even if he had his cell phone with him, which he doesn't, he gave to me, he still wouldn't answer."

"Oh; so you have his cell phone?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Then I should stop calling; I should stop texting, too, I must be driving you crazy."

"No, no, text away! It will—…it will be a nice treat, when he comes back, to see all of the texts you sent him. You know, shows him that you care. He would definitely appreciate it."

She seemed impressed with his idea. "I will do that!"

"Yeah, do that." No one spoke for a while. "So, since you don't know what drove him to do this and since talking it about it more could only make you worry, I think I'll go now, try calling someone else."

"…okay. But please tell me if you find someone who knows."

"I will."

"And unless it's classified, please tell me what it is."

"Sure."

"And if it's not too much trouble, tell his handler to give him my regards, okay?"

"…you don't know this, because I would never tell you, but I'm his handler."

"…right; don't know what you're talking about."

"Great; bye Tokio-chan."

"See you around, Sou-chan."

The call was ended; Tokio didn't feel any better though. Even if his silence was now accounted for…she just found out he was in danger. He had a very dangerous assignment. That was worse news than him rejecting her! At least then there would be no threat to his life. She put her face in her hands and squeezed; she remained like that until her eyes hurt.

.

 _Tokio:_

 _Hey! You didn't answer me two times in a row; you okay?_

 _Hey, Okita told me you have a new assignment. I heard it's dangerous. Take care of yourself._

 _Did you know that wolves were almost extinct during the witch trials because people thought them to be companions to the witches?_

 _I heard that alcohol always helps with disinfecting wounds so keep a bottle on your person at all times._  
 _Or a flask._

 _I'm so tired; I had to deliver more than two hundred crates today; thank god I have Sano-chan to help me._

 _Did you know Sano-chan wants to be a mechanic? He gets into a lot of fights, too so he fits the image of the grease monkey that's always in some sort of trouble._

 _Did you know that dolphins are the only animals that sing for pleasure and not just as a mating call?_

 _It's been a while; keep safe. We all worry about you._

 _I stubbed my toe on the couch today and I thought it's amazing how one simple thing like that hurt me more than my ribs did on a daily basis!_

 _Hey, I bought a car toady! I hadn't replaced my poor Toyota till now. Guess what I bought—another Toyota._  
 _This one is silver._

 _I love camellias; they are very beautiful flowers. Which one is your favourite?_

 _You know, blue must be the prettiest colour in the world; all its hues are beautiful. I bet you look good in all its shades, too…on the contrary of green._

 _I bought a dress; it was a little short but it stays in its place, so it's fine. But when I wore it to dinner with my parents today mum scolded me. Dad said it looked good on me though. I'll listen to dad this once._

 _Did you know chicken soup helps with the cold? Eat lots of it if you ever feel like you're coming down with something._

 _Hey! I missed talking to you. Come back soon._

 _Sano-chan just confined in me; he got a girlfriend. He showed me her picture and she was very cute! Said her name was Hina._

 _I hope you stay well in health._

 _Sou-chan better be giving you my regards, too! I tell him every time._

 _Yayoi started dating Tomoda! They met by accident when she planned to meet Sou-chan, how funny is that? But Sou-chan held no grudge, said he was cool. They get along well though and the fact he's not a playboy signals Yayoi turned over a new leaf, so I'm doubly happy for her._

 _The weather has gotten too cold; stay warm._

 _I love this time of year; most people enjoy autumn more, with its riot of colours…but I like the winter better, because when it snows everything looks so white and pure. Which one do you like better?_  
 _My favourite season is still summer though._

 _My parents got a dog! He's huge and cuddly; he was a rescue. He has all that hair, too he's like a blanket. I'm glad because even if he doesn't listen and jumps on bed with them, at least he keeps them warm._

 _Did you know otters hold hands when sleeping? Apparently they do it so not to float away from one another. It's so cute!_

 _Sano-chan had a fight with his girlfriend; didn't want to talk about it, but I could tell._

 _I miss your voice; you always sounded reassuring. But I'm worried now, please come back safe._

 _Did you know some male songbirds can sing up to 2000 times per day? He must be trying to impress very hard!_

 _Mum misses your bouquets; dad got her one for their anniversary but she said it wasn't as pretty as yours! When you come back, make one for her!_

 _You won't believe the day I had today; the crates fell, we had to put everything back right, I was delayed by an hour at the end of the day and I made poor Sano-chan miss his date with Hina-chan. But at least she understood._

 _Hey; it's been so long since I haven't seen you. Wonder how you're holding up over there. Keep safe._

 _Did you know chocolate milk was invented in Jamaica in the early 1700 by the Irish botanist Sir Hans Sloane?_

 _Today was slow; Sano-chan broke up with Hina-chan and my feet hurt so we got only the necessary work done. Now we'll have to hustle tomorrow._

 _Shin-chan, the dog my parents rescued, finally learnt to listen to the command "sit"!_

 _Wish you were here._

 _I saw this guy making his girlfriend carry all of their shopping and I immediately thought how mortified you'd be! It was funny._  
 _Especially when she hit him with half the bags over the head._

 _I saw some strawberry glazed doughnuts and I thought of you so I had to buy them! But Sano-chan ate most of them. That kid can eat a bear and still be so thin. Well, he does fight every day._

 _Did you know the English phrase "The quick brown fox jumps over a lazy dog" uses every letter of their alphabet?_

 _I miss you._

.

"Okita, tell Tokio to stop texting me."

"Hello Saitou; good to hear from you, I'm well thanks for asking."

He clicked his tongue annoyed by the shorter man's wit. "I know you are well, why should I ask unnecessary things? Just tell her to stop texting me."

"That's the only reason you called me?"

"Yeah, it's been driving me crazy." He ran his fingers through his hair; it always calmed him. But now all it did was remind him they needed trimming again. "Can't focus on my work."

"Aw, is little Saitou distracted by cute Tokio-chan?"

"Just do as I ask _Sou-chan_."

"Well, I sort of can't." The asshole was smiling despite the jab he so clearly made at him not two seconds ago about the unwarranted familiarity with which Tokio was addressing Okita in her texts to him. Or, knowing him, exactly because of that. "You see, I was the one who prompted her to do it."

"Of course you were. Well, then convince her otherwise."

"Why man, come on? What's the harm with a little distraction?"

"It's not little," he murmured, slightly embarrassed. "Just make her stop."

"…the thing is, I sort of told her you left your phone with me and that's why you wouldn't answer her calls, even before you left. And then I prompted her into sending you those messages so it will seem weird if I turn around and change my words now."

The smile could be heard, even wider, but Saitou knew this one was out of guilt. "Then you be _the villain_ for once and tell her you can't stand all the vibrating in your pocket, or whatever, if you so easily lied to her."

"…Saitou; why don't you want her texting you? She's clearly worried about you. I thought…I thought you liked her. At least as a friend, even if not as a—"

"Bye _Sou-chan_ ," he snubbed and ended the call before Okita ended his sentence.

This was the last thing he wanted to hear. He had spent far too much time and effort to stop thinking about her at first; if she was attached then he shouldn't be replying, maybe the other man would get jealous of her efforts. And if she weren't, well, he was on a dangerous assignment; and once he came back, he would be on another dangerous assignment and so on and so forth and all she would do was to worry for no reason.

Because he could see it in her texts: she did worry and care for him. And it could bring nothing good to her! She shouldn't concern herself with him at all, he's a lost cause. He could be gone at a moment's notice; why should she care on the first place? He was convinced she only ever saw him as a friend anyway, so why did she go to such trouble to elicit a reaction from him?

But as the onslaught of texts continued, he could no longer hide behind his confusion or his thick-headedness: she was interested in him in a very non-platonic way.

That was one of the reasons he wanted them to just stop; she was the _last_ person he wanted to think about. Hell, he even took this god forsaken assignment so he could stop thinking about her! There, he said it, he finally admitted it. He took this case because of her; because he was upset. Because the thought of her being with someone yet flirting with him at the same time made him feel betrayed and an unbearable amount of miserable, because his friends had finally gotten to him that her interest wasn't that innocent.

But maybe he always knew; it hadn't felt all that much like a revelation, but as an admittance on his part, so he was aware he was in denial about something. It was this. Maybe he denied it because then he'd have to stop and seriously ask himself: how do _I_ feel about her? She was his type, as Okita expertly threw in his face, using his own words against him; she was fun to be around; and she was so likeable! He liked spending time with her, around her, doing something **for** her…

So did that mean he fancied her?

Yeah, thinking back on it now, he must have been in a special kind of denial not to realise sooner. He was tipped off though, he just paid no heed: he could clearly remember his irregular heart beat when he came upon her crash site; he still felt the relief from when she opened her eyes. He still felt the bitterness that came with the decision to decline her invitation upstairs; or for a coffee; or for a drink; or for a dinner at that place he could smoke and made his favourite soba with skill.

But he kept his eyes closed and his ears deaf and disregarded her advances as friendly invitations because…because he was a coward. Because he didn't want to be hurt again. Because finally he recognised that feeling he experienced when he thought she was dating another man and that was the same exact sentiment when Yaso told him she was leaving him.

Betrayal; pain; longing; a sense of injustice…all of those swirled and danced in his gut, making him feel crippled, useless. So what did he do? He picks this case, just so he could prove to himself once more how capable he was, how nothing was impossible to him. He picked this case to run away, he finally knew.

And why?

Because she wouldn't stop texting him the most unlikely things, assuming he'd be interested in her everyday life and her crazy facts and her decisions, only causing him to accept exactly how much he cared about the most asinine, stupid thing she could come up with. He wanted to see her, that's what he came to realise; it only happened when she texted though…but she texted all the time. So how the hell could he focus on this damn gang when all he wanted to do was leave and go see her?

.

The moment Tokio hung up on Okita, she could finally allow her emotions to take over: her voice broke and her mouth turned downwards; her lips trembled. Her fingers shook as her vision became blurry. She didn't want to stop texting him, why did she have to? It was a way to take the edge of, maintain the illusion they still communicated. It had been so long since he took this case and he still wasn't back; talking to him like this gave her hope she'd see him again soon.

But now, it was gone.

Morosely, she started typing for one last time.

She read it over once; twice; three times. She was trying to edit, maybe erase any repeating word but each and every time she couldn't make out some words…she wiped her screen but it was clean. Why couldn't she see, it was frustrating? Oh wait a minute; as she tried to pinch the bridge of her nose, she felt the problem—it was her eyes.

The tears wouldn't stop.

.

 _Tokio:_

 _Hello Saitou; how are you? I hope this message finds you and it finds you as well as you can be. It's already been two months and change since you left, how…unbelievable. It felt just like yesterday you drove me home, scolding me for wanting to work again so soon. Since then a lot of things have happened; but I can no longer tell you any of them because Sou-chan asked me to stop; it's not his fault though! I've been driving him crazy with all the ringing and the vibrating! I understand I must be tiresome. But at the very least I hope you'll enjoy my messages when you get to read them. But this is my last message until you come back, so I guess I should tell you all now: I miss you. I hope your health is and remains well. I hope I get to see you again soon. I hope your assignment ends well. I hope you catch the bad guys. I hope you get to have your strawberry glazed treats all the same. I hope you smoke less; I hope you don't drink too much. I hope you come back as less changed as possible. Keep your spirits up and keep your spirit. Stay away from reckless women; stay away from women that are affiliated with the gang, too. And stay safe; just stay as safe as you can. I'm praying for your return. I'll be here when you come back so you can tell me all about it and have someone other than Okita to share it with; I'll be here. I'll be waiting. I'm already here and waiting so drop by at your earliest convenience. You know where I live; I'm here._  
 _I'm here._

It'd been a week since Saitou received her last message; ever since, he'd picked up the habit of looking at his screen every hour, fearing she might not have been truthful and send another text. Only she didn't; she never did. That message really was her last one…Good. She did as they asked. Good. Great…

"Yo, Fujita; come sit with us, let's have a drink."

One of the few bearable gang members, Gin, passed by him and gestured to the party of three he was heading, sitting on the leather couch at the far end of the basement-like room. The look Saitou gave him was enough to shut him up, maybe slightly scare him a little, too. The man, younger than Saitou and much more chipper, sought help with wide eyes from the rest of his comrades who simply laughed at the way he was refused. Dissatisfied, the young man made his way to the couch.

 _Good_ , he thought almost vindictively, he would be left alone.

But not a minute had passed by, the man returned with a bottle of gin and two shot glasses between his fingers. Without warning or invitation, he sat down next to him, who was already sitting at the steps of the room, facing the back door. He looked at the offending party, once more with chilling intensity, but this once he wasn't fazed. "Come on Fujita, you look like you need the drink!" He put both down and filled them to the brim. "Let's have a shot; for everything that puts a crease on a man's brow!"

 _Why the hell not_ , he miserably assented in the end; he grabbed the flimsy thing and pushed it back at the same time with his – now – drinking partner.

"Aaaaah, that's good alcohol!"

No, it wasn't; it merely had a high volume and no question about it, it was homemade.

"You know, you are always dark and gloomy, but lately you've been stepping up your game. And today must be a record, my blood froze for a second there."

The raised eyebrow he was offered as reply was deemed satisfactory by the black haired youth, who simply simpered and refilled their glasses. They knocked them back again.

"So something's been troubling you. What is it?"

He graced his interlocutor with the most Saitou-like 'are you kidding me' look; but he was still not intimidated enough to leave. Huh; that was almost, _almost_ , impressive. And when Gin's smirk became ever wider, he was almost, _almost_ , curious to see what he'd say next. After refilling their glasses though; the alcohol helped him fog his mind thus not think about how Tokio decided to do as he asked for once!

Saitou shook the shot glass to indicate what he wanted; Gin complied and they knocked back their third drink.

"You don't even have to tell me; I know what's eating you." _Oh really_ , challenged Saitou's eyes but Gin met him head on, inclining his head to the side. "You're having woman trouble."

Saitou chuckled very uncharacteristically, feeling vulnerable for the first time. "Am I so obvious now that even you can tell what's wrong with me?" That couldn't be good; if he could see this much, what about the rest?

But the worry came as quickly as it went because Gin laughed heartily! Said laugh annoyed the three other people on the couch so much, they decided to break it up and left them alone. _Good riddance_ , Saitou thought, he hated the whole lot of them. And it was killing him he had to act like he wanted to be like them.

He didn't have to shake his glass again though as Gin had caught on to him and refilled as soon as his laughter had died down. They drank.

"No man, you're very mysterious most of the time; but your face has this miserable look that's universal on every man's face when problems with **the missus** arise."

He snorted again and this once refilled their glasses himself. The buzz had started, how fortunate; unfortunately, it wasn't enough.

"There; more proof. You can't stop drinking."

"Shut up, kid."

"I may be a kid, but you're lovesick; you stink of it."

"No, that's the booze."

Gin laughed; Saitou chuckled. "So what's up with the missus? I saw you stare at your phone; stopped calling, did she?"

"…texting." Gin looked like he lost him. "Stopped texting, not calling."

"Ah, I see; you suspect another guy is the reason?"

"No, I asked her to." But what a nice way to be reminded all of his insecurities and fears, _thanks kid_ , his eyes snapped to Gin venomously and the man refilled their glasses as a distraction. "There could be another guy, too." since he was so kind to mention that.

"But if you asked her to stop, why are you so upset?"

"She never does anything I tell her; did she have to start now?"

Gin was confused but still poured another drink for them. "…you don't look _that_ type; why did you tell her to stop if you didn't want her to stop?"

Saitou leaned forward, face in his left hand. "Because that's what I wanted at the time; but it turns out it isn't what I really wanted."

"So what **do** you want?"

He looked up, looking into Gin's eyes; that was a fair question. What **did** he want; from her; from himself; for them? "I want…" even with all that alcohol, his mind couldn't be clearer; he finally had a good grasp of what he was feeling. The only thing the alcohol did was compel him to spill his guts to this kid. "I want her."

"Okay." He paused, confused. "Aren't you already together?" He nodded no. "I thought you were."

"No, we aren't."

"Why not?"

"Because I didn't realise I was-…and she was-…but she kept-…look, doesn't matter now. Now I know what I want."

Gin struggled to keep up with his half explanations and eaten sentences. "And you want her."

"Yes."

Yes; he wanted her. He wanted _her_ ; he wanted to see her again. It felt so liberating saying it out loud.

"So why can't you have her? Go talk to her—call her man."

He immediately looked down; what was he saying? He was undercover in this very violent, very renowned biker gang, he couldn't call her, couldn't involve her. He never dared mention her name even, she was not to be tangled with these lowlifes. This, this is why he hated seeing her texts; that's why he asked her to stop: every single time he felt his phone vibrate he thought of her; every time he read her messages, his heart did something odd that hurt him. So he asked her to stop, thinking the rest would stop with it.

But they didn't. Instead he was left staring at her last message, mulling over it, reading it over and over, and over again until he nearly burnt it into memory. He wasn't an idiot and if anyone could be called subtle in the expression of feelings that was him; so naturally, he knew when he saw something that meant something else. And her last message: I miss you. I hope your health…I hope I get to see you…I hope your assignment…I hope you catch…I hope you get to have…I hope you smoke less; I hope…; _I hope, I hope_ , she hopes for so much and wishes so many well wishes…! He could finally admit this, too—that her last message was one small, repeating statement, spoken in a dozen different ways:

I love you.

And fuck it all, he loved her, too.

And because he loved her, too he could never get her in this mess. He sighed. He needed more drink. He poured for the both of them only this once he grabbed both glasses and had them in succession. "Wow, Fujita, calm down."

"I can't call her; I can't get her involved in this. She's…"

"Innocent," Gin finished for him; then, Gin sighed knowingly. "I get it man; she's not of this dirty world we are. She's pure."

Well, he was offered a pass, he'd have it. "…yeah; exactly."

"I have this girl, too…I love her to death." He looked very miserable. "But I can't even approach her; her father promised to have me locked up if I so much as go near her again. If only I could quit the gang…!"

"They won't let you?"

He nodded only once but it was enough. "Tried to broach the subject once—I never dared to do so again. They beat me black and blue. And I only wanted-…I never even wanted to be in this gang, but one thing led to another and shit got me here." He sighed again. "If I could leave, I would. And the only reason I'm telling you is because you're so drunk, you won't remember it by tomorrow."

 _Keep telling yourself that kid_ ; he finally found his humour. He finally found his mood. He stood up, knocked back a last shot and waited for Gin to follow his example. "Kid, if there's ever a chance for you to leave, will you take it?"

He picked it up; the slight promise in Saitou's words, the warning for something that might happen in the future; the different way the older man was now looking at him, his amber eyes almost shining with the possibilities. And how annoyance and derision turned into understanding.

"…yeah." He had held his eyes a lot of time before answering; that's how Saitou knew he was honest.

"Good; I'll arrange something when I get the chance."

Gin didn't ask when he'd get the chance; neither why he would be willing to do something like that. "Fujita!" he exclaimed just before he reached the door; Saitou turned to look at him. "Other man or not, pure on not…go get her! If she's what you really want, claim her for yourself; that's what men do. I'm rooting for you!"

He stood there, regarding the young man; a smirk graced his lips in response, nearly feral. "Take care of your own love life first, kid."

.

It had been four days since Saitou had that talk with the kid; his life had been very eventful since then, so he didn't get to think about anything else other than the job at hand. The boss of the gang, Koutarou, had called him in for the first time since him entering, formally asking him to extract information out of two certain people that were high up in the hierarchy in a rivalling gang. A new shipment of drugs had just come in and these two were aware of where it was being held. Koutarou wanted a slice of that dough so he kidnapped them in the dead of the night, shoved them in the special room – their actual basement – where Saitou proceeded to torture the information out of them.

He was so good at it, Koutarou was impressed.

Saitou wasn't all that satisfied with himself, given what he just done, but he took some comfort in the fact Hijikata gave him the okay to do it through Okita and that these two bastards had committed numerous atrocities. Basically, he was torturing criminals and not innocent people; that was some comfort. Plus, all the info he got, he sent it right to the police.

Yet the thing was, what with Koutarou being so impressed at his skill, he asked him for more things, kept him close to him. The relative freedom he was experiencing was coming to an end. That was a good thing, though; it meant he was advancing, climbing up the ranks, getting more information to his handler. He was moving that much closer to his final goal.

So it wasn't uncommon to be summoned to him once more that fourth day.

"Fujita, we need your skills."

"Of persuasion?"

"Precisely; we have a very special guest in our special room."

Ah, great, more torturing; this wasn't good for his soul. "I needed to take care of a problem, so I took him at a deserted highway and put the gun against his head; but while I was taking care of business, and even though that road it is always deserted, a car passed. Suddenly, there was a witness."

Fuck; he had no intention of killing anyone. Anyone. "The thing is…the car passed by very fast; we don't know how much the witness saw. Or if they saw, if they talked."

"And that's where I come in."

"You got it. The problem is…this witness, it's a woman." Oh shit. "And most of my men aren't willing to do what's necessary, thinking it cowardly." Damn right it was! "But I feel you and I see eye to eye and you do what needs to be done. Can I trust you?"

"Of course."

An imperceptible smile appeared on Koutarou's lips. "Then by all means, she's yours."

He nodded; his mind immediately started racing to all the possibilities, trying to block out how this man basically offered her up to him, to do as he pleases. "What's the state of the woman?"

"I gave them the order not to hurt her; if she saw nothing, there's no reason to create more work for ourselves. But I did hear she put up a fight, so they may have roughed her up a bit."

Good for her. But that means if she hasn't been touched in any other way, she should be more willing to comply with him that was fortunate. Heh, but no wonder this biker gang was never caught; the boss was very prudent, despite his propensity to violence. He used it excessively, but only when needed.

"I see; so am I safe to assume that if she claims she knows nothing and I believe her I am to let her go?"

"…not you, we have other people for that but yes, she'll be allowed to leave."

He nodded, turned about and left.

So if she did as he told her she would escape with her life; he hoped he wouldn't have to blow his cover to her to inspire trust, but he would certainly give her Okita's number; even if she saw everything, he'd simply lie to Koutarou and send her on her merry way, instruct her to barricade herself in her home and wait for Okita to come to her. Saitou would alert his friend, too so he knew the truthfulness of the woman's words; and after Okita takes her into custody she should be fine, he will think of the rest.

That was the plan.

"Hey guys, it's Fujita." One of the four men keeping watch at the door alerted and elbowed the guy next to him.

"So you arrived huh? Lucky bastard."

His trademark raised eyebrow made an appearance; the third guy curtly nodded to the door with his chin. "You have her all to yourself; the boss told us so. No one is to interfere; apparently you work better when people aren't watching…lucky bastard."

The fourth snorted. "She's a looker, too; you're gonna have some fun."

He paid no longer any attention to them. "Have some fun with her for us, too!"

"Yeah; payback for kicking me on the balls."

"Beware though, she's a feisty one."

"Take some pictures to show us!"

Disgusting. If he could sneer and spit at them, he would have. But this was important; so he only turned around, just as he opened and told them "don't come in, whatever you might hear."

The men laughed for all the hidden promises, but he was simply relieved. After all, whatever they might hear would be fake. He could bang on a wall, kick the table, throw the chair, have her scream on demand…in a way, it would be entertaining, pulling the wool over their eyes.

The first thing that he took note of was the lack of light, artificial or otherwise, as he descended the stairs to the basement; the second thing was how truly frightening a place this could be, with its bare walls, underground so no windows, mould eating away at the walls that purposely went unattended and of course, the emptiness of the room. Save for one chair right in the middle of the room, sitting under a hanging lamp – currently turned off – and the table about a metre away from said chair there was nothing else.

And at the far wall of the basement, at the very corner, was the figure of a woman, folded in on herself, feet and hands bound. Her head had lolled so all he could see was her dark hair, spilling all over, hiding her face. He sighed. Let's get to work.

He crouched down in front of her and reached out to jolt her awake and maybe remove the hair from her face…she stirred at his push and then tensed, signalling she was fully awake—only in split seconds, how admirable of her. She stilled completely, eliciting a sigh from him; this woman was so scared, it was disheartening. But he had respectfully not touched her again so she would feel comfortable; carefully raising her head, she looked at him. And his heartbeat stilled. For one horrible, terrible moment, everything around him faded to black. Then he saw red. Fury raked his body and he shook for well over half a minute. But then he forced himself to calm because reality wouldn't change:

The beaten woman in front of him, looking just as shocked, was none other than Tokio.

* * *

 **A/N** : Like I said, final chapter part 2 is coming in a day so the wait won't be too long.

Love you all; leave a review on your way out~~


	7. Tears, blood and sake

**A/N** : Aaaaaaaaaah, yes, we came to the end. This is the end lovely people. Thank you so much for joining in on this and I had someone to write for; you are wonderful! Hope the last scene makes up for all the grief I put you through lovelies.

Anon, you're so kind, I can't.

So, without further ado, enjoy~~~

* * *

He stoically watched as her fear turned into surprise, into relief and then…tears pooled in her eyes, as she kept his gaze with her disbelieving one.

"S-Saitou…you are…you're here…"

And then the tears were released; she just gave up and fell forward, right into his chest. He closed his eyes, in a final effort to control his emotions. He simply wrapped his hands around her, falling to his knees. She cried with abandon in his chest and the tighter he hugged her, the more her sobs came. She was shaking all over, sounding unbearably pained.

And he simply held her firmly there, against his chest, as if to make sure she was real.

"I'm here." His voice was soothing. "I'm here." Just like that day she had the accident, he spoke those words and she felt safe; protected; like things would go well. "I'm here."

He barely believed it, even as he held her. He held her by the neck and the waist, spots he could squeeze her even closer from. He needed to feel her heartbeat, her skin, make sure she was there. He feared she would start complaining but all she did was accept him and he found it too much.

But it was real: her lips were cut; her eye had a developing bruise; wherever her hands were exposed there were more bruises. Her clothes weren't torn anywhere suspiciously but they were certainly wrinkled and somewhat misplaced. She was maltreated and hurt and once more in danger around him. The thought alone sent him into a rage! But he couldn't afford to let his hate overtake him. He had to make sure he did this right, to keep her safe.

Once she stopped crying, he took her face in his hands, wiped back her tears. And just stared as she sniffled and struggled to maintain some semblance of decorum. They stayed like that for a while, until he realised she was still bound. He took his knife out of its holder and cut her loose with two moves; seeing the burns from the ropes only made him angrier, but the moment she was released, she grabbed his shirt, as if holding on to him for sanity, for life.

She felt so vulnerable; he did, too. She was the one in pain and shackles but he was the one feeling a prisoner—to his feelings and this image of her, of reaching out to him. An honestly chilling idea was born in his mind then: if he hadn't told Okita to convince her to stop texting…this could have been avoided. She could have texted him about it, he'd have seen it and immediately told his friend. Once more, she was in this position because of him, much like that time with Senguji.

If he could smack himself, he would have. For now blaming and hating was enough. Another ridiculous thought passed and that was that the universe was playing a sick joke on him. You want to see her so badly? Here, have her, beaten and bound in the basement.

He reached out, too, his hand cupping her cheek tenderly; she leaned into it. He had to suppress the urge to hurt every single asshole who dared to touch her for the umpteenth time in only a matter of seconds, barely minutes, as he carefully brought her face next to his.

"You're here…" she only said, reassuring herself and closed her eyes.

He rested his forehead against hers. "I'm here." He repeated with fervour. "No one will harm you." His thumb kept tracing the lines of her face, her mouth, her chin…and she let him. She wasn't fighting, once more she was simply accepting him. He felt her grip on his shirt tighten, brows drawing close. His other hand put strands of hair behind her ear, her breath tickling his neck; she was so kind. And she was right there.

 _I want her; I want her to be safe. And I want her to be happy; but I want to be happy with her_.

He only had to angle his head; his eyes remained open till his lips met hers in the most loving but tentative way. He was hesitant at first, but then she met his efforts with her own and a slow, torturing kiss erupted into a passionate show of affection. But he wasn't rough with her, not even for a second; he barely touched her, putting no force behind it.

They separated when both ran out of breath; he put his forehead on hers. "I'll get you out of here, alright? Trust me."

"I trust you…you aren't here because of me though, are you? Those clothes…" Black shirt with a dirty look and tight black jeans; a gangster's attire. "This is your assignment."

"Yes, I entered a gang of bikers."

"Oh my god; that is so dangerous! I hoped…I feared…I'm just glad you look well."

He shook his head, finally parting with her. "You are in no position to worry about anyone but yourself. You wear everyday clothes so am I to assume Rooster Head is safe?" She nodded yes. "How did this even happen? Why did you take that road?"

She looked away. "…Sano-chan was sick. I took him soup. But on the way there, one road was closed for maintenance and if I took the other one, I'd take twice as much to get there. But the road I took…proved more treacherous than I'd hoped."

He sighed. "That kid always gets you into trouble." She scolded him with a look. "Anyway, we have to get you out of here. This is what we'll do."

He took his cell phone out "I'm calling Okita to tell him about the situation; the police will take more than half an hour to get here though, maybe fifty minutes, thus ever second counts. We can't stay in here too long because even if we banker down, there are approximately thirty seven people on the premises at any given moment. And since today Koutarou is here, security will be tighter."

He dialled Okita's number.

"What we're doing is: I'll take out the four at the door, drag them down here and lock them in. But you don't come out whatever you might hear. Get it?"

"What might I-?"

"Get it?"

She had to force her mouth to stop from sassing him. "Yes."

"Good; now wait a second." He pressed call and put the device to his ear. "Okita, shut up and listen: code red; pre-determined place," and hung up. "Alright; now once they are inside, we get out and head to the right."

"Okay…"

"We have to keep moving because they are too many; but if we take it room to room, it'll take time till they manage to immobilise us. Hopefully, I will have managed to create a path for us to the parking lot. Do you know how to drive a large bike?" She nodded yes. He took out some keys from his pocket and handed them to her. "These are the keys of my bike; the last one of the second row, closest to the gate. If you get a chance, ran to it and leave."

"Without you!?"

"I'll try to catch up; but if you see I'm too late, just go. I can make it alone anyway."

"No! Saitou, you'll have no means of escape if-!"

"Okita will come; I'll just have to hold out."

"But you said there are thirty seven people out there!"

"…remember when I was stranded in that warehouse I told you about?" She nodded yes frantically. "I held out for two whole days; but I was alone. The only one I had to protect was myself and if I got a little shot up, I didn't mind. But if they so much as graze you, hands will fly." She seemed a little taken aback at that but said nothing. "If you're here when you didn't have to be it'll only distract me."

"I see; alright. I promise if I get the chance to make an exit, even if it is without you, I'll try to make it."

He seemed pleased. "That's all I ask. And in return I promise no one will dare touch a single hair of yours as long as I'm around." She blushed but otherwise nodded normally.

"Okay, survival tips: if you see a gun of any sort being drawn, you immediately dive! Not for the person holding it, for the ground. you'll never believe how eaily people miss, especially a moving target. I'll take care of the rest. If anyone comes at you with a knife you hold your arms out like this" he put his arms in front of him, covering face, neck and chest, showing her the correct stance. "If you can help it, curl up into a ball, it'll help protect the sides, such as lungs." She kept nodding. "If anything happens to me, you run like hell! Always to the right; you'll find the exit to the parking there; should anyone harm you, apply pressure to the wound. No one will manage to, but just in case. Are you getting all these?"

She nodded her head rapidly. "Good. As long as we're on the run you stay close to me and behind me at all times unless I say otherwise. And listen to me if I tell you to do something." He stopped, taking a deep breath. "Alright. We'll stay here for another…fifteen minutes. And then we're setting it into motion."

"…all this is fine but there is one thing I don't understand."

"What?"

"Won't you be exposed if we do all that?"

He chuckled. "…what."

"You're undercover here; for the past three months no less. Won't that ruin all you've worked for? I couldn't stand it if I was the reason your cover was blown; and I don't want you to regret it later and-" The look he gave her, of utter and complete confusion, threw her off. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Tokio…fuck the cover." Her heart stopped. "I'm getting you out of here myself."

She looked at him gobsmacked, reeling from the light-headedness his comment brought. She felt…warmth.

"Now come here;" he grabbed her by the waist, pulling her close "we have fifteen more minutes in this basement and I'll be damned if I spend it talking about trivial things." She glanced at him, cheeks reddening. "We're going to do something relaxing." He sat down, taking her with him. He put her in his lap, head resting on her shoulder. She blushed even more. "Stay with me Tokio."

"…okay."

She watched as he inhaled her scent, eyes closing. Smiling at the surprisingly tranquil image, she ran her fingers through his hair, making him shudder pleasantly. She smiled wider.

"I love you," he abruptly said against her shoulder. She looked at him shocked, but his eyes didn't open to see her. "Let's go to dinner."

She seemed appalled for some reason and without missing a beat slapped his chest. "…don't say such things; that's a death flag!"

He snorted. "You didn't say no though."

"Why would I say no? I've been begging you to take me out on a date for half a year now." he remained silent; she huffed annoyed. "I love you, too-"

"-Idiot," they both snapped at the same time. Quiet laughing ensued. When it died down, still eyes closed, he lazily moved his lips to form: "Can I ask you something that's been eating at me?"

"…sure."

"If you witnessed a murder, why didn't you call the police immediately?"

"…I tried; Tomoda is on a leave so I called Sou-chan. He didn't answer. I thought about…about sending you a message but you don't even have that number with you, Sou-chan has it, so I refrained. I bet he wouldn't read your messages anyway. So I called him twice but he didn't answer. And next morning, as I went to buy food for my cat, they grabbed me and brought me here."

 _That was too fast_ , Saitou thought suspiciously, finally opening his eyes. "Were you driving your truck to Sano's?"

"Yes; I had just finished my roll and I had taken the soup with me, he simply reheated it."

Okay, if she took the truck, it made sense to be found easily; he must have been a little bit paranoid. "And if you knew you witnessed a murder why didn't you go to Okita's place? If you explained the situation he wouldn't have minded." And all this grief could have been avoided.

"…I don't know where he lives." She didn't know if she was offended or if she wanted to laugh at the look he gave her. "Why would I?"

His judgemental look didn't abate. "You're calling him Sou-chan."

She finally decided she would giggle. "He _told_ me to call him Sou-chan and it sort of stuck with me now."

"…don't call him like that." She giggled again. "I warned you."

"No, I'm laughing because Sou-…Okita said you wouldn't like it and you really don't like it."

His eyes shifted. "I'll deal with him when the time comes." She giggled for the third time and he decided he liked that sound. He held on to her tighter and waited for his long moment of respite to end.

Twenty five minutes later, he decided it was about time to move. Without warning, he stood, taking her with him.

"I thought you had fallen asleep."

"My eyes were simply closed."

And he wanted to savour the feeling for a little longer, so he took ten extra minutes. He needed them; he was about to kill and injure a lot of people. The dangerous ones had to die, obviously, while the small fry simply needed a push to leave them alone. He wasn't talking about now, though, no, he was thinking of the long run. If they knew her truck, her name and kidnapped her so easily, they also knew where she lived; if they left without taking care of them, retribution would come down hard upon her.

But he wouldn't allow that.

"You stay here no matter what until I come get you, remember?"

"I remember."

"Stay here."

He said it for a final time and ascended the stairs. She followed him with her eyes. He looked so relaxed and prepared for anything, but he must have been worried. She couldn't see it until he reached the door and saw him take a small, bracing breath. Even that was barely noticeable, but she had been looking. Feeling a little better for seeing that yet all the more appreciative for the effort he put in to appear casual, she took heart and decided to be bold: silently, she followed his example and reached the door.

He had left it a tiny crack open. She took a peak outside…only to see one of the four men huddled around him being flung across the room! The second one was being picked up and this one fell on the other two, falling to the floor like bowling pins. Saitou took the initiative once more and kicked out with impeccable precision, hitting soft spots and certain places that caused them to get knocked out easier.

In a matter of seconds, they were all out.

After that, Saitou bent down low in an effort to secure them but then snorted. "Why are you sneaking about?"

He heard her through that!?

Just as she was about to speak in her defence, nearly opening the door, she realised she was about to make a hug mistake: a young man came into view, maybe twenty; his thick black hair were short, but his fringe was falling over his eyes. She noticed he looked flabbergasted at first, but slowly his shock ebbed away as he assessed the situation.

Oh no; they were found.

She hesitated to come out then, thinking if she could retreat without making too much noise. Probably not. Damn, she had to stay put. She still eavesdropped though.

"Fujita, you…you beat them up."

"Congrats kid, you have the gift of sight."

Tokio seethed. They were in danger! Why was he being smart with this kid who could so, so easily tell on them? Yet the kid did nothing, simply looked on. "Why are you here, kid?" Even Saitou must have been nervous by his watchful eyes if he addressed him so directly.

"I heard they gave you this task and how you accepted so readily…but after our conversation…I mean, I didn't want to believe them, so I came to see for myself." A smile finally graced his lips. "Turns out I was the one who was right; you didn't do as they told you."

"Congrats kid; you do have the gift of sight." Both Tokio from behind the door, and "the kid" gave him an identical look. "The question is what are you going to do about it?"

"…I wanna help you."

"Why?"

"You said it yourself, right? This is my chance; and I'm fucking taking it! We're leaving this goddamn gang one way or the other—running or lying in our caskets."

Saitou must have been amused by Gin's readiness to throw away this gang and his eagerness to do, be something better. But first, a clarification. "Kid, we have someone to protect; no one dies." The smirk on his lips the moment before and his matter-of-fact way of saying that line led her to believe he definitely liked this kid; it also led her to blush ten shades of red but that was to be expected.

"Right, yeah; no one dies."

"No one gets left behind, either. So make sure you keep up." Both nodded. "Tokio, you can come out now." The fact he didn't raise his voice, not even a little bit, made her realise he knew she was there from the start. With a sheepish smile, she did as he asked, pushing the door to reveal her in all of her haggard glory.

"Hello."

Gin was caught off guard. "Ooh the guys were right; you're quite a looker."

"Careful," Saitou warned, all in good humour, but both felt that chilling promise in his voice.

"The hell man, I was only making an observation? What is she, your woman or something?"

"Actually yes." Tokio became beet red while the boy's eyes became twice their size. "This is the woman I was telling you about."

He was telling this kid about her? Her head immediately snapped to him, but he expertly ignored her.

"That must be divine grace…! A little thoughtlessly given, if I may. She's in a bad situation but hey, at least you got to see her again, like you wanted."

She smiled like an idiot. "You wanted to see me?"

"Keep your trap shut kid;" he deflected, already manhandling the criminals "come do something useful and help me."

"Right away."

But she didn't let this one slide; she took to following him around. "You really wanted to see me?"

Gin observed how Saitou looked away under the pretence he was busy with the task at hand. "What do you think, idiot?"

"He's been staring at his screen every five minutes ever since you stopped texting."

She blushed; she smiled; then her expression became neutral while realisation slowly dawned on her face. Saitou gave the kid the deadliest look ever directed at a person who hadn't committed a crime before his eyes. "Keep your trap shut kid."

"Y-…you received my texts? Okita lied to me? You had your other number with you!?"

"…yes."

"Then why didn't you ever reply?"

"I didn't want you to send me those texts; I thought if I didn't answer you'd stop. But there's no stopping you…"

"Wh, why? Why would you not?"

"I was conflicted."

"About what?"

But Gin popped into the conversation, after throwing one of the four down the stairs. "He thought you had a guy on the side."

"Kid," his tone warning "if you wanna get out of here alive-" But Tokio's exasperated "What guy? Who!?" -showed him he could no longer avoid the confrontation.

"…I don't know; Sano said so when we were talking on the phone."

"Saitou, what-…?" Wait; _no_. Oh god no. Her chin fell and stared hard. "You mean last time we talked and then you never answered again back when Sano-chan snapped about that order?"

He nodded, annoyed. "And we go this way if anyone is interested in escaping," he said instead, taking the lead.

Gin struggled not to laugh; it was so rare to see him this…expressive and uncomfortable, it was hilarious! He enjoyed every second of her incredulous and vexed accosting him and his efforts to side-track her with the cold hard facts.

"Sano-chan, he…he knew I was trying to-…he was making fun of me! Alright? He thought you were my boyfriend when we first met and I told him you weren't _but not because I had any say in it_ " that she said very fast "and then he started calling you like that to tease me and I nearly fainted that day! You're telling me your first thought was completely to the other direction? _Why_? How can anyone ever be as thick-headed as you?"

Her righteous fury came to a screeching halt and she felt like the universe was explained to her. "Oh god. Sou-chan was right." His irritated – What did I tell you about calling him that? – went unaddressed. "It **was** something I said; I did this. You took this case because of me."

"…just move. And keep it down."

But just as he was about to laugh some more on Saitou's expense, Gin realised something didn't quite click right; did she say case? And what did she call him? How come he hadn't noticed all this time, she used a different name? So…Saitou came here for a case? He looked at him and saw him in an entirely new light. In fact, Gin felt like he just saw him for the first time and…he hated to admit it but it made sense.

"You a cop, Fujita?"

"Your gifts are plenty, kid. You seem to have the gift of common sense also."

Tokio slapped his shoulder even if she was chuckling at his jab. "Be nicer to the kid."

Gin snapped his fingers! "I knew it; I knew you weren't like the rest. There was something that felt too…honourable about you. You didn't have our stench."

"…you don't stink all that much, either; stay close and we'll make sure whatever smells linger get washed away."

"Aw, you're helping him, how nice."

"Be quiet, both of you, or else."

"Dude, we don't have cameras in here, you know that; how are they gonna suspect you-?"

"When I don't report to Koutarou for an hour, they'll start thinking something went wrong and come. The point is to get out of here before that happens, or at least hold out until—too late!"

He heard stomping on the ground from the other corridor, closing in on them. He dived towards Tokio and took her down with him and to the side. They rolled until they couldn't be easily seen by the direction the sounds were coming; then he eavesdropped. They must have been around six, maybe eight. They weren't too heavily armed, maybe handguns; and knives, those were a certainty.

He looked down at her. "Remember the survival tips?" She nodded yes frantically. "Time to put them to the test; and another one: staying out of sight is always the best way to go." He looked to his left and saw Gin had taken a similar position next to him, knife already out. "Stay low. Give them no reason to look at you."

He took his own knife out and waited; the stomping was coming closer and closer by the second. He closed his eyes; zero hour is five, four, three, two…

Now!

He let the first ones pass and then lunged at the rear! He took down three but the fourth managed to dodge in time. No one had a gun out that was fortunate; their reaction time has significantly dwindled and Saitou had more time to manoeuvre. The two men that led the party, now bringing up the rear the way Saitou threw his surprise attack, were taken literally down on the floor by an eager to show his worth Gin.

Saitou wasn't playing around; he stabbed two men while lying down and then turned the blade in his hand to lash out on the remaining two; they circled him like prey, but to anyone watching it was clear: the victims were they. He had them right where he wanted them up close and personal. His limbs were longer and his strength more; despite the two bikers brandishing their knives, too, he was calm to the point of calculating. He didn't make the first move, but waited for one of them to lose his cool.

It happened seconds later, when the older one of the two lashed out in a frenzied state, shouting profanities and cursing. Saitou angled his body away from him once, twice, thrice; the fourth time, he grabbed the man's wrist, reminding her his fight with the yakuza, and twisted him until he heard the sickening "crack"; wrist hang lifelessly, knife fell to the floor, scream escaped the assailant's lips, abruptly cut short by Saitou's kick to the face.

He fell to the floor unconscious.

The other man had hesitated to enter the fray, fearing not to stab his comrade in the heat of the moment. But now he was regretting it with every fibre of his being seeing his comrade lying on the floor bleeding, not knowing how to approach this man to harm him. because in that moment that man looked like an asura, powerful and terrible, bringing down men with one move, while that traitor Gin had to fight tooth and nail to keep two people down.

Saitou had taken down three and now turned to number four, _him_ ; his blood froze when he met his eyes for a short moment. Hate, disdain, annoyance. He could only watch as the man's fist came closer; losing all will to fight, he put up his hands to guard from the impending hit, knife turned outwards. Like they were nothing, he heard his bones crack upon impact, knife falling from his fist for no other reason he could no longer hold it. A second punch came his way but he never saw how that went. Everything turned black and he surrendered to oblivion.

"Dude, the hell! You just broke his hands with a punch! A punch; how awesome is that? You have to teach me how to do it!"

For all the praise, he looked very serious. "It's something that can be taught only through experience," was all he said on the matter, offering his hand to Tokio who gladly took it, but with a frown to show she understood him full well.

"Anyway!" Gin exclaimed, adrenaline still pumping "ten down, twenty something to go."

"We won't face everyone in the facility kid; that could get you killed."

He huffed. "…so what do we do?"

"We keep heading right, go for the parking lot and try to make an exit before the rest of the cops arrive."

"There's going to be a raid?"

He gave him a look as if to say "obviously". "Otherwise it'd be too dangerous to have her roam around."

"…so basically we hold out until your friends arrive, right?" He nodded. "Can't be too hard right? When are they coming?"

"It takes twenty minutes from HQ but that is once the squadron is ready; prep time varies, depending on the state of alertness. I went with worst case scenario which is something less than an hour…that leaves us with half an hour to struggle. If we keep a really low profile we can make it."

He was already grabbing the unconscious, some dying, people, and dragged them to the side, where a door was; he tried it and it opened. As he tried to look inside, he saw the room was occupied…by a strung out biker, looking at the ceiling with a blank look in his eyes.

Just as a Saitou was about to attack, Gin put up his hand, stopping him. "I know how to handle this," he said confidently and stepped in front of everyone. "Yaku-san, hey; we have to leave these people here. They are ours, alright? So don't go poking them or shouting at them; we'll come back for them later."

"Ah." He looked at the bleeding, incapacitated men and the other two – Tokio effectively hidden from him –. "Okay; but only because it's you Gin."

"Thanks, man, I appreciate it."

"Get ready though; didn't you hear the alarm? Cops came busting in." They looked at each other, Tokio knocking on Saitou's back repeatedly at the sound of that. "Are they the first ones mowed down by the cops?"

"You know what, exactly that. A cop mowed them down." Gin didn't even feel guilty; that's exactly what happened.

"Poor bastards. Take care Gin. I'd go, too but the way I am…I can't hold a gun man."

"I understand man, no problems. Right Fujita?"

"Right."

"You take care, too, man; you're tall, you stand out."

"He'll keep it in min-…d."

As if nothing was wrong, as if the men weren't even there, Tokio walked right in bypassing them and standing far in the room. The strung out Yaku stared hard; the two men stared at Yaku. What would happen now? But Tokio pointed to the door with her chin and Yaku looked out, and the two men followed Yaku's eyes. He saw nothing. The two men though, went out the room and started looking—they heard it before they saw it: a couple of men arguing loudly were heard down the hall.

Hastily, Gin and Saitou closed the door, beaten criminals safely inside…with Tokio having a staring contest with Yaku. Every fibre of Saitou's being was screaming "get this over with" as the two men came into view: Koutarou's right hand man, Furudate, and a small fry were speaking heatedly but weren't arguing after all.

"Saitou! Just the man I was looking for; cops stormed the place. The bitch attracted them no doubt; we found out she has dealings with cops socially. Go kill her and dispose of her body with Gin—no evidence of her being here must remain."

Gin tried to look as innocent as possible. "Sure."

but the small fry had an opinion on his own. "We shouldn't kill her; we should hold her as a bargaining chip."

Furudate hit him upside the head. "Are you an idiot? It's her they are looking for—if they find her here, knowing she's been kidnapped, that's it for us. The only reason they started shooting is because that fucker Rintaro has a happy-trigger finger! We can still talk our way out of this, boss said so."

Saitou nodded to Gin; Gin knew what he meant immediately. Using their knives' hilt they hit the two men at the back of their heads; Saitou wisely targeted Furudate seeing his unparalleled strength helped to knock him out with only one hit. More people to hide now though. What should they do...? The room with Yaku! He tried to open the door…but it didn't. In fact, it did but then it was closed the next second.

Then a single hit to the door took place and they stayed looking at the door; they waited. Not half a minute later, Tokio emerged, sneaking out of the room she was supposed to be sneaking _in_.

"What happened?" Gin asked her before she even closed the door.

"I managed to convince him I was a figment of his imagination…I think I gave that man a fetish."

Saitou rolled his eyes as he grabbed her hand. "We don't have time for this; we need to reach Okita." They started walking, Gin looking like he was ridiculous for not wanting to know the details of that incredible statement. "But please don't give fetishes to people, especially criminals."

She noticed he was no longer going right. "I'm trying! It's harder than you'd think."

Gin was confused though. "How can the cops already be here? You said another half hour."

"I said worst case scenario; accept the little victories kid."

"Right. Let's go outside then."

Their path was open; but where it wasn't, it really wasn't. If it were just the two men, there would have been no problem, but with Tokio right there it was hard to explain why they were rushing to deliver the prisoner to the cops thus verifying her existence. They had to take out four more people before they reached the entrance…and where the "battlefront" was.

Through the windows, they could see it clearly: the Special Forces unit, led by a man with a commanding presence, shot and guarded behind the barricade the bikers themselves had set up. They had it for themselves, but it helped both sides. But a hail of bullets was ever so casually brought upon, they couldn't just run out there…! They looked at each other; they had to do something. More accurately, someone had to be bait. And everyone knew, the most effective bait would have been

"Me, obviously. I'll do it."

"Not a chance," Saitou refused her faster than Gin blinked "it's either me or the kid but I don't let others do my dirty work."

"I will do it; you're a couple so you should stay together."

"Kid," he begun both angry yet both kind of touched by how willing he was to sacrifice himself "I've survived situations worse than this without the police's help; even if I go first, I'll still come back."

"But I won't?"

"It's a fact," he deadpanned, doing nothing to curve Gin's offence. "Do you want to see your girl again or will you die here? Those are your two choices."

"How can you be so-?"

"Trust him, Gin-san." Tokio put a hand on his shoulder. "He's right about these things. Tactics and whatnot." She gave a rueful smile. "But I still maintain I should go first; if iota so much as glimpses at me, he'll do all in his power to keep me safe. And there's no reason in killing me from the bikers' perspective then because if I get killed, they have all the more reason to arrest them. They won't try anything. But Gin is in obvious danger from the police while you Saitou, might get shot at when they realise you're one of them."

"You suppose they'll act reasonably; if you're exposed, they might as well add one more charge to their wrap sheets'. And only the one who actually shoots at you would be charged for murder; any shots that miss you, too bad for the police. Attempted murder or intention to harm is the most we can charge them with." She bit her lip. "So I'm going first, just like I said."

"But won't the bikers aim to kill if they so much as suspect-?"

"There are only twelve of them;"

"Only!?"

"And once the guys see me in danger, they'll react; I'll be fine." Once more Tokio was buying none of what he was selling. "I'll be fine _enough_."

She considered. "…okay."

Gin gave in; he was outnumbered and out-reasoned. "Alright."

"If you see a chance, you both make for the officers. Now let's go."

No more words were exchanged between them; they started for the outside. Gin held the door open for Saitou and Tokio, then followed. Looking all around, they saw none. And the din from all the gunfire, shouts and cursing, prevented everyone from looking back because they heard them coming. So Saitou nodded and they started running.

But luck wouldn't stay on their side; just as they had started, the gunfire died down. Everyone's interest was redirected towards the three people that appeared from the side. Officers saw their own, and went on full alert; the bikers saw the girl and went on full alert; there was only a split second for decisions to be made.

And everyone went for the best – or worst – possible one:

"Tokio-chan!" Okita shouted dumbfounded.

The man commanding the officers seemed irritated by this familiarity, but nonetheless shouted: "Protect the civilian at all costs!"

"Kill the bitch!"

"Shoot her!"

Saitou had already redirected himself towards the bikers; panicked, Gin followed his lead. And Tokio, in the middle of it all, chose to run towards the cops with all her speed. Gunfire was heard; directives were shouted; names were screamed.

When Tokio reached the officers, she fell straight into Okita's outstretched arms; she tried to turn around and watch the scene, but he wouldn't let her, he kept pushing her to the back of the lined-up men, where she'd be safe. More shouts and terrible sounds of people dying were heard and her heart beat faster every single time; forcing herself to pay attention; make sure she didn't recognise the voice; ascertain the bikers were still struggling because at least…at least he was alive. And kicking.

Once Okita had secured her inside an armoured police vehicle, he ran back to the front; but the damage was done to the bikers. Saitou's frontal assault, accompanied by Gin, broke their line and some of their spirit. They were easier to deal with; the commanding officer Hijikata had them under his boot in fifteen minutes.

She watched men being arrested and driven out to other vehicles, almost running out of handcuffs; she watched men she didn't know come and go, giving directions and receiving orders; she watched the people in charge move people from here to there but so far, none of the people she knew made an appearance.

Where was Saitou? Gin? Okita?

"Tokio-chan, oh my god!" Okita hugged her tightly for a brief moment and then let her go. "I'm so sorry I didn't answer; look what happened to you. I'm so sorry, it's all my fault. I knew something went wrong when you didn't answer a single one of my calls this morning."

He finally allowed her out of the car and she kept looking all around. "That's alright Sou-chan; where's Saitou?"

"Where he always is after stuff like this; ambulance." He nodded to the right; she instinctively moved to go, but Okita caught her hand. "Don't crowd him; Hijikata is giving him an earful right now. Wait until he's finished."

Indeed, she saw the commander of the Special Forces unit stand in front of the open ambulance doors, talking to someone she couldn't see – seeing the vehicle was turned to the side – looking fierce and imposing. He had a stern brow, scarier than the one when he was giving orders to shoot at people mind you, and his mouth was a thin line. She would hate to be on the receiving end of that man's temper but there Saitou was getting his ass handed to him.

She was glad though; it meant he was well enough to handle it. "So what about Gin, the kid that helped us?"

"Oh, he's fine! We are already working out a deal for inside information before Saitou joined the gang, to help us secure the case." He came close, as if sharing a secret. "I think Hijikata-san took a liking to the kid, so he'll be fine. Oh," he said then, noticing what was going on with the two people at the ambulance. "I think he's pretty much finishing up. Let's go."

She had never felt a ten second walk last so long in her life; because it was ten seconds too long away from him and she had to push past four men in full uniform to reach there. Hijikata's eyes fell on her first, snorting at the sight of her.

"Here comes the stumbling block." He commented and there was something very unsettling at the light-heartedness of his tone, especially when she hadn't rounded the corner yet to be able to see Saitou. "You should know you just cost me one of my favourite operatives; high price for such a short person."

She watched him go perplexed; despite his words a faint smile touched his lips and he walked away, leaving them finally alone. She immediately went to Saitou but as she dived for a hug, she immediately stopped herself, shocked to see him lying on the stretcher, naked on top with tubes and bandages all over him.

"What happened to you? You were fine when I left you!"

"This is nothing; just scratches."

Unabashedly, she ripped the blanket off of him to reveal two "nothings", meaning two bullet wounds close to his ribs, but miraculously away from his vital organs. There were some more bandages at his abs, obvious these ones were stab wounds from the angle and the way the bandages were positioned.

"These are just scratches in Saitou-speak," Okita explained as he appeared next to her "to the rest of the officers these are serious but non-life threatening wounds."

"At least they aren't life-threatening," she comforted herself as she put the blanket back on. Then she wasted no time and did what she had originally planned: wrapped her arms around him tightly and squeezed. "And you're back…"

"Aw isn't it cute? Tragedy brought you together."

"…your stupidity put her in danger."

"Okay that was a low blow." They glared at each other. "What was Hijikata-san complaining about anyway?"

"Well, I blew my cover; that was one thing."

Okita was immediately suspicious. "And the other?"

"…I told him I'm quitting the undercover force."

That was when Tokio finally raised her head to look at him, while Okita stared hard. And then he erupted into a flurry of blows to Saitou's unhurt arm.

"Finally! Finally you quit! I've been begging him to quit for a year now;" he told Tokio 'in confidence' "finally he listened to me." But she didn't react. "Well say something Tokio-chan. He's doing this for you, you kn-oh."

She sprang up and kissed him! Right there, in front of everyone...Both men seemed taken aback at first but as Saitou slowly relaxed into it, hand cupping her cheek, Okita grew exceedingly awkward.

"I, uh…I'm gonna go now, wait over there." Murmuring, he backtracked to where Hijikata was shaking his head in disapproval but slight amusement. "Admit it; they look good together," Okita beguiled the older man. "The flower and her thorn."

He snorted. "At least he's happy." Then a sneer. "If they **don't** get married and have a bunch of children I'll be _very_ upset."

"Boss, there's no way they won't end up together; my plans and machinations were perfect."

Hijikata shook his head. "I should have known you were the one at fault for this."

While the two men watched their colleague and his new girlfriend kiss and talk and interact, those two were actually having a serious conversation.

"As thrilled as I am you won't be in such danger from now on…are you sure this is what you want?"

"Yes."

"Because So-…Okita said Yaso tried to do the same, but you didn't like it because you liked this line of work."

"…Okita spilled it, huh?"

She lowered her eyes very lady-like at that and tried not to smile. "Yes; I might have told him I knew about Haruka so he felt the need to tell me about Yaso."

"That idiot…well, then was then; now is now. What I want has changed."

"And what do you want?"

"…a position that will allow me to see you more." She smiled up at him and the look he gave her might have been sombre but his eyes looked so accepting, she melted. "So for now, I'd like to stop undercover work. Maybe I'll pick it up again in the future."

"Hijikata already hates me though."

"He's all bark but no bite; at least with women. Don't worry about him, he'll come around."

"I hope so; he has such a strict face."

"He likes it. Says keeps criminals on their toes."

She said nothing else, simply kept her arms around him while he was lying on the stretcher, waiting for a paramedic or a doctor to come tell him what he should do. It wasn't for another ten minutes spent with him playing with her hair or stroking her arm that someone appeared, urging him to let go of the woman and let the men drive him to the hospital.

"Why can't I come with him?"

"…but Okita-san always rides with him."

"Nah, I wouldn't mind giving up my space for Tokio-chan."

"...I'd hate to ruin the tradition."

The paramedics looked at her impressed though; the people present exchanged knowing looks and smirks.

"You should be proud," Saitou explained in their stead at her wondered look "Souji never offered up his space, even for Yaso."

"…ah." She was now in on it, too; she realised Okita was always guarded against her, but to be to this extent, it was surprising. Still, she felt all the more worthy. "If that's the case, all the more reason to give in. You go Okita-san."

She gave a small bow, finally letting go of Saitou – who was more reluctant than her – and watched as Okita climbed in the back of the ambulance after they slid in the wounded one. Then a devious smile appeared on her face, just before the doors closed. "Ask him why he took the case Sou-chan!" and giggled as she watched Saitou's discomforted, accusing glare.

.

She grabbed a bold-coloured pansy out of the beautiful bouquet her mother had brought him, putting it on the tray.

"There; now it's a real romantic dinner. Our third one this week, how delightful."

He grunted, sitting up in his bed. She was sitting next to him, on a provided chair, smiling deviously, watching as he took the spoon in his hands. He hated not eating with chopsticks, he felt like a toddler. So his voice had a little more bite when he snubbed "I'm glad you enjoy the situation."

She grabbed her chopsticks and snapped them in half, then, as if to show off. "It's either this or me complaining to you non-stop for getting yourself stabbed at that particular spot and now you can't keep food down unless it's a special blend only the hospital knows how to make," she continued with the same smile, using her utensils as pointers.

"…fair enough," he admitted.

"Let's eat," they chorused and each started eating their respective dish: Saitou wasn't allowed to have anything else other than a pureed version of a fruit salad – he definitely refused to eat meat in that form – while Tokio was eating curry noodles out of her paper package; take out from the closest place to the Kyoto city hospital.

They were both patients but Tokio was there only for a check-up, released from day one; Saitou though had to stay until his stomach was better. Doctors said it would be about a week. Three days down, four to go.

"When is Tomoda coming?"

"In about an hour; he's going to pick up Yayoi first. Then we'll all stay for a while and leave together; Tomoda will drive us home."

"Okita brought you here, Tomoda's taking you home; you're turning them into your errand boys." She slapped him lightly on the arm. "Speaking of which, where the hell is Sano? He left for a soda almost half an hour ago."

Tokio laughed. No matter if they got together, he still remained thick-headed in matters such as these. She literally chocked on her noodles. "Hajime, you're going to kill me," she said, laughing and coughing. "There's a cute girl visiting her mother in the next room and they have gotten quite comfortable; I bet he's somewhere talking her up."

"…she came looking for him yesterday." Tokio perked up. "Thought she only wanted the company of someone her age."

She started laughing loudly, struggling not to fall from her chair.

"This is a hospital you know; keep it down!" Sano shouted to be heard, defeating his whole statement just as he entered the room. "What are you laughing about anyway?"

Every sound other than the machine hooked to Saitou's hand died down, two set of eyes turning to the door. Sano did just walk in but he wasn't alone, no; the cute girl from next room came with him. She was smiling shyly, looking around the room curiously, but not daring to stray from his side.

"…never mind that. Hello," Tokio began, addressing the girl "I'm Takagi Tokio, this is Saitou Haime; who might you be? Rather, I know you're Konishi-san's daughter, I just don't know your name."

"I'm Hana-san, pleased to meet you." She bowed. "I hear you employ Sano-san?"

"Yes! He helps me with the heavy lifting and all; he's very strong, and not only for his age—I know people in their twenties who can't carry as much."

"That's amazing, Sano-san!"

The moment Hana turned to him, Tokio winked; Sano preened like a peacock but still saw the motion and nodded in thanks. "Hahaha, I know, I'm very strong; it's one of my good qualities."

.

.

.

 _Five years later..._

Tokio sighed defeated; Okita looked at his watch; Tomoda was looking around anxiously. While Yayoi was tapping her foot on the wooden floor with a hand on her waist and a frown on her face, Sano was clicking his tongue at random moments. They were all dressed to impress, Tokio being the most impressive one in her mostly white kimono when all else were western clothing. It had beautiful patterns of light pink and blue flower petals, similar lining and the traditional three layers of clothing.

"Just where is he?" Yayoi asked out loud for the umpteenth time. "We've already let three people go before you; soon enough there will be no more couples left to take your place!"

Saitou was uncharacteristically but almost expectedly late. Tokio knew something was going to happen to prevent him from being on time; this was exactly what had happened last time, too. She just knew and apparently, she was right.

"What if he got cold feet and isn't coming?"

"That sounds more like wishful thinking than something that's likely to happen," Okita snapped the spike-haired young adult who dared to utter such words on this day.

"Besides, what cold feet can he get? We're already married Sano-chan, remember?"

Sano snorted! "Going to the city hall and registering your names doesn't make you married."

Tomoda was confused though. "…Sano, **that** is the legal procedure for a marriage; the ceremony has nothing to do with the law, it's just a celebration."

"If you don't get the priest's blessings it isn't a real marriage!"

Tokio chuckled. "Well, we're getting it now…when Saitou decides to show up anyhow."

"And why did it take you so long? It's been three years you signed those papers!"

"Did it escape your notice I was pregnant!?"

"You were pregnant, not disabled."

"This shrine is very popular, you know" Yayoi reasoned "and we did cancel sometimes either because Saitou was in hospital or one of the kids got ill."

"…excuses!" he kept on. "All I know is you shamelessly got knocked up and had to hurry and cover it up so you rushed to sign your names."

Both Tomoda and Okita smacked Sano at the back of his head; in these five years that passed Sano had grown the most, grown to be the tallest of the bunch, with the exception of Saitou. So both Okita and Tomoda had to reach out to do it properly; it had quite the comedic effect to onlookers, who chuckled at the sight as they went on their merry ways.

"You _know_ he had already proposed when I found out I was pregnant Sano-chan stop being like that."

"Why don't you run back to your date now, kid?" Okita snapped, the one most nervous of all.

"She is waiting with her parents," he pointed at Tokio "keeping her kids busy, remember?"

"Go keep them busy with her, why don't you?"

"Alright, let's all be calm now," Tokio had to intervene "Saitou's late and we are all a little jumpy. But I am positive he'll have a very good reason, so let's relax till he comes and explains. Alright?"

Her eyes were trained on Sano. He pouted and looked away but she saw the jerking movement of his head. "Great. Oh, speak of the devil! He's finally here."

Saitou walked briskly towards them, looking perfectly normal, as if he wasn't a couple of hours late. While he approached, all glared or stared with varying degrees of intensity, until he reached them. He too was wearing traditional Japanese clothes; he made sure they were in all black, resembling a groom's outfit, even if it wasn't one, not really. The moment he arrived he gave a quick kiss Tokio but the first thing that he said was "where are my daughters?"

Almost everyone rolled their eyes.

"They are with their grandparents, don't worry…oh and Megumi-chan."

Saitou snorted. "You brought your girlfriend to a ceremony like this?"

Sano's cheeks coloured. "So what, shut up? I wanted to. Why are you so late anyway?"

"I helped an old man; he was being attacked by some thugs for money. I got him out of the predicament waited for the police and once they had my statement and I was sure this would receive the treatment it deserved, I left."

"Why do these things always happen when we're about to officiate or bless our marriage, I don't get it." She complained, but knew this would happen, she really did. Because "ugh, I should have known bad luck would come our way, though; I got a call from Yaso yesterday."

"Yaso?" the three detectives chorused, followed by a very incredulous look.

"Yeah," she became sour "she called to congratulate us on our marriage _again_ , because the first time wasn't enough apparently. Said something about the kids, too and went on to sneer at me in a polite way."

No one ever really doubted Tokio's truthfulness; they were simply shocked Yaso would do something like that. "Why is she bothering you?" Tomoda asked dumbfounded.

"Want me to make her stop?"

"Oki-kun!" Tokio exclaimed scandalised at his dark eyes and savvy tone. "You're an officer of the law, don't make that face." she shook her head. "No matter; she's called home before but I just ignore her."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Saitou scolded her. "I can take care of it."

"I didn't want you to think about her."

"Don't be jealous of that hag, Tokio-chan!"

"I'm, I'm not jealous."

"Yeah, you're ten times better," Yayoi encouraged, ignoring her friend knowing full well she was lying. "Look at her, married and still bothering her ex, who also happens to be married."

"Yaso is persistent but I know how to make her stop; you should have told me, idiot." He kissed her again, chaste, sweet. "Let's go receive those blessings now because I don't know how long I can stay in these clothes without thinking I should change all of my wardrobe into this."

Inside joke known only to his wife and best friend, the three chuckled as they all made their way to the main part of the shine. The previous wedding had just ended; perfect timing. As they walked in – she heard at least two people who worked there cheer to see she was finally going in, making her mood even better – they noticed their family members and rest of the guests seated at the very first seats, looking formal and giddy!

Surprisingly, the first to lead their group was Hijikata; he was wearing traditional clothing, too and he too looked a little too good in those baggy, old-timey clothes. He had said he wouldn't miss this for the world but then they gave him an urgent assignment…which he must have completed in record time. Second was Gin, glowing with happiness next to his own wife. They had only just gotten married, three couples before them - they were supposed to do it in succession, but Saitou ran late - .

Then it was Megumi, all dolled up, who had their eldest daughter, Aiko, in her lap and showed her, her parents as they passed by them. The girl clapped excited as she exclaimed "mama! Papa!" and waved energetically to grab their attention. Their second daughter, Hitomi, barely a year old, followed, sitting in her grandad's lap, who had taken her little arm in his hand and used it to wave to the couple walking to the priest. Then it was grandma and then a beautiful young lady who must have been Okita's mysterious date.

Tokio smiled at her daughters; Saitou waved back; the people who came in with them hurried to their seats and waited until the priest, who had gone out for a moment to have a drink of water, came back. When he did, surprise met his face, a smile forming on his lips.

"If it isn't the young man who saved me from those crooked people!"

Guests and Tokio looked impressed. "Kanamori-san," Saitou acknowledged with a tilt of his head "I hope your health is well." None of his words or his tone betrayed if he had any prior knowledge whether the person he saved was his priest.

"Oh yes, I'm fine, thanks to you! Who wold have thought, eh?"

"Indeed…for your information, the suspects have been apprehended and are currently sitting in a cell, awaiting trial."

"Really?" He nodded. "How do you know?"

"I'm a police officer so they told me when I called them, just before I got here."

Visibly impressed, the priest pat Tokio on the back. "You are marrying a very good man! But let's not waste more time and bless this union!"

He cleared his throat and began.

All the while, Tokio was looking at her husband with a wide, loving smile; he knew how important it was for her for the priest to like them, what with them having already two children and the prejudice that existed in the traditional circles. He was the one who insisted on this but she was the one who said "if the priest doesn't like us he's simply going to jinx us" and meant it.

She didn't believe it was intentional that the man he saved was the priest, there was no way Saitou would take to following him around to earn his favour…but it was a very fortunate little twist. Maybe Yaso hadn't left her bad-intentions mark on them today. She stood there, looking at him and smiling, while the priest talked and chanted.

In the end, they drank the sake…and just like that, they were married again. With the authority of the emperor himself, Sano folded his hands, proudly withstanding Hitomi's tugs on his hair and said with gravitas:

"Now I approve."

* * *

 **A/N** : And it's finished~! Oh dear it's so liberating but it's a kind of bittersweet moment, too you know? Ah, I really enjoyed this story, it was so fun to write and write it for you, lovely people.


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